Bush Names Cheney as linking 9/11 to Saddam -- CNN

[doxieone]

Film just shown on CNN.

No link. Need transcript for exact wording. John King asked him.

EDIT: I am ANXIOUSLY awaiting the transcript on this. BIG TIME.

EDIT EDIT EDIT

I have the transcript:

Q Mr. President, Dr. Rice and Secretary Rumsfeld both said yesterday that they have seen no evidence that Iraq had anything to do with September 11th. Yet, on Meet the Press, Sunday, the Vice President said Iraq was a geographic base for the terrorists and he also said, I don't know, or we don't know, when asked if there was any involvement. Your critics say that this is some effort -- deliberate effort to blur the line and confuse people. How would you answer that?

THE PRESIDENT: We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11th. What the Vice President said was, is that he has been involved with al Qaeda. And al Zarqawi, al Qaeda operative, was in Baghdad. He's the guy that ordered the killing of a U.S. diplomat. He's a man who is still running loose, involved with the poisons network, involved with Ansar al-Islam. There's no question that Saddam Hussein had al Qaeda ties.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Oh this is getting really interesting!

It's almost like Reality TV...

[diplomats]

3. I've been off DU for several hours

is something going on with Cheney? Please, tell me what I missed!

[Demobrat]

7. All you missed was a big rumor

that Cheney was off the ticket.

[diplomats]

21. Has this rumor been debunked?

or is it hanging on?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

22. I just sent you a PM with the stories in kind of the order they appeared

the shit has been slowly plopping over the last few days since Sunday..think about it...when have they EVER gone to the press and done all they could to contradict one of their own in this manner at THAT level.

[diplomats]

23. Thanks!

I thought something weird was going on.

[diplomats]

24. I read the links you posted

very helpful!

[Hoppin_Mad]

29. Please post the links here !

thanks

[Emboldened Chimp]

2. More, more, more!

(drooling)

[Beetwasher]

4. Huh, what? Please explain in more detail

Bush is claiming that Cheney linked SH and 9/11? Damn, shit's falling apart at the seams!

[doxieone]

5. I ran to the computer even as Bush kept talking..

I couldn't believe my ears. We need the transcript though. Big time.

[Bluzmann57]

9. What? Is bush trying to cover his own ass

at his "uncles" expense? Need details. Please!

[ClassWarrior]

31. I heard Murtha and Pelosi last night...

...on CSPAN talking about a disastrous war policy, and how - in more polite terms - someone's head had to roll.

And when the reporters asked about Rummy and Wolfie, Murtha said it was up to the White House to decide who to sacrifice - so we could regain credibility on the world stage - but that Rummy and Wolfie only carry out the policy, that someone in the White House had to recommend it.

Made me think he was suggesting Unka Dick.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

39. Remember... It was Spiro T. Agnew who fell b4 Tricky Dick Nixon...

We can hope, can't we?

[lanlady]

69. Cheney's 100 times worse than Agnew

Didn't the charges against Agnew pertain to his behavior as governor of Maryland? (As a friend of mine once noted, MD governors have a bad habit of ending up in jail.) Cheney's corruption has affected the entire country, its treasure, and led to thousands of innocent deaths.

[Terran]

71. IMO, Cheney is the real brains

behind the operation. I'll be very surprised to see him go. But things are looking dicey for him, all of a sudden. It'll get very interesting if the SCOTUS declines to hear his case about the energy task force documents.

[Sequoia]

11. The Blame Game

continues. It is never Bush's fault, never. The life he has led has caused him to believe it's always someone else's fault, never his. Wonder who he blames for being AWOL in 1972?

[caledesi]

16. Like * never linked the SH and 9/11? Puhleeze

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0314/p02s01-woiq.html

[oasis]

64. excellent link to a powerful article.

[karlschneider]

6. Were you watching Bunnypants? I was (and posted a few mins ago)

he explicitly claimed a He explicitly claimed a connection between Iraq and Al Qaida (hope this message isn't munged, the editor is behaving weirdly)...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=119906

[Beetwasher]

10. I don't understand though. Is he blaming Cheney for the claim?

WTF is going on. My head is spinning...

[karlschneider]

15. He might have, I didn't hear the whole thing. But I fer sure did hear him

say that Iraq and Al Qaida (damn, that's a hard word to type) were working together.
:grr:

[qb]

8. Cheney's going to give Shrub another pretzel attack over this!

[Selwynn]

12. L I N K !???!?

I'm dying over hard info!! heheheee

[disgruntella]

13. wow -

it's like watching the pieces of a puzzle falling into place.

"It was all Cheney's fault - and see how he benefited? Bad Cheney. No biscuit in 2004."

[colorado_ufo]

50. Like Cheney cares?

With all the money Halliburton is making from the "battle of Iraq" he can just take his f_ing billions and retire in Bermuda with a gold pacemaker.

[pretzel4gore]

56. then for 10 billion years in hell!

just for dick's warm up~!
:-)

[Ilsa]

14. Didn't commander bunnypants repeat

"9/11" over and over at the pre-war news conference where the whores threw him softballs?

Q: "Why are we invading Iraq?" A: "9/11"
Q: "Who do you call in an emergency?" A: "9-11"
Q: "When do you go nite-nite?" A: "9:11"

See, he's okay speaking without a teleprompter.

[karlschneider]

17. Oh, another one. "What did you roll at the crap table?" 9, 11

:D

[KamaAina]

34. "Where do you go to get a Slurpee?" "Uh, 9-Eleven?"

Bush* = :dunce:

[Kool Kitty]

61. "What is your bedtime, Mr. pResident?"

"Oh, uh, 9:11..."

[Cheswick2.0]

70. how big is your penis Mr President

... I wish somewhere between 9 and uh 11

[northernsoul]

72. millimeters that is!

sorry, couldn't resist!
:evilgrin:

[UpInArms]

20. the scripted press conference of March 2003

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030306-8.html

THE PRESIDENT: We, of course, are consulting with our allies at the United Nations. But I meant what I said, this is the last phase of diplomacy. A little bit more time? Saddam Hussein has had 12 years to disarm. He is deceiving people. This is what's important for our fellow citizens to realize; that if he really intended to disarm, like the world has asked him to do, we would know whether he was disarming. He's trying to buy time. I can understand why -- he's been successful with these tactics for 12 years.

Saddam Hussein is a threat to our nation. September the 11th changed the strategic thinking, at least, as far as I was concerned, for how to protect our country. My job is to protect the American people. It used to be that we could think that you could contain a person like Saddam Hussein, that oceans would protect us from his type of terror. September the 11th should say to the American people that we're now a battlefield, that weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a terrorist organization could be deployed here at home.

So, therefore, I think the threat is real. And so do a lot of other people in my government. And since I believe the threat is real, and since my most important job is to protect the security of the American people, that's precisely what we'll do.

someone please help me know what was on CNN - I don't have it here and am really really curious to know :)

[jimshoes]

46. My one question to * would be

to explain exactly what he meant when he said,

"September the 11th should say to the American people that we're now a battlefield, that weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a terrorist organization could be deployed here at home." Who, If not Saddam Hussein was * referring to?

[caledesi]

18. I missed it. Please, a link?

[LearnedHand]

25. Link's not available yet.; still looking

n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

19. So is Cheney falling on his sword

to get out of the spotlight? And then he can run back to Halliburton and cash in on the real profits before he kicks the bucket?

[Wickerman]

26. Right

Cheney doesn't care. He will resign, (or just get off ticket) go back and grab even more gold. He doesn't give a fuck about his reputation and is willing to be the fall guy - he's just a prop and he knows it - even though he was a more important and intelligent prop than Bush.

Bush is the money guy, the name, and they will get someone with more gentle quals to try to help Bush grab the next election. Cheney is used up and will take the heat for the Iraq debacle. Of course, from a return on investment profile, it was no debacle for the BFEE.

[arcane1]

28. didn't Halliburton stock recently DOUBLE?

or at least, rose considerably?

Cheney's just fowllowing the money! He has his underground hidey-hole under his house, he has millions now to add to his millions. Getting rid of him now just means he can start cashing those checks!

[karlschneider]

47. HAL for the last year

[ronnykmarshall]

41. Freepers are

shittin' in their shoes right now, doncha know.

Dick's done and now GW can try and get Jebbie on the ticket.

[watercolors]

48. That would be a hard pill to swallow!

But then we could get them both out of our hair at once, hopefully they will go off and lick their wounds and stay out of politics!!

[MGKrebs]

43. But...

Cheney is among the driving forces of the neocon agenda. Bush doesn't know shit about any of that. He just reads what is handed to him. Sans Cheney, the neocons would be set back quite a bit. This would be a huge victory for peace, prosperity, diplomacy, and civil liberties.

[colorado_ufo]

51. Absolutely right.

Oh, no - he isn't profiting from government contracts! Not right this second! I have no doubt that money beyond the dreams of avarice has been set aside for him by Halliburton and untold others, pending his departure from the WH.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

27. I think as an executive branch member, he needs to wait 5 years

[LearnedHand]

30. I think as an executive branch member, he needs to *spend*...

...5 years in solitary confinement, then the rest of his pathetic life in maximum security prison.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

33. I don't believe in discrimination

Let's put the whole fucking bunch in there with him...then it won't be solitary and hence it will be more humane. :D

[colorado_ufo]

52. And these guys started playing by the rules

when?

[rocktivity]

32. First a story about him still being paid by Halliburton, now this

Is Cheney about to become the next Spiro Agnew? Is the stage being set for him to decide to spend more time with his family? If so, Georgie, keep in mind that jettisoning the VP didn't do Nixon any good!


rocknation

[doxieone]

35. I posted the transcri9pt above.

ANYONE please look. It is not quite as I originaolly posted.

[Herschel]

36. Related

W.House Distances from Cheney on Iraq-9/11 Link

The White House appeared to distance itself on Wednesday from comments by Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) that left the impression he saw a possible link between Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.


"We've said all along that there's no evidence to suggest that that we've seen," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.


Cheney, interviewed on Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," had left open the possibility of a Saddam link to the attacks.


Democrats have accused the administration of creating a "false impression" at the heart of a widespread U.S. public belief that Saddam had a personal role in the attacks.


A recent poll by the Washington Post said 69 percent of Americans believed there was a Saddam link to the Sept. 11 attacks although no evidence of such a link has surfaced

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=13&u=/nm/20030917/ts_nm/iraq_usa_dc

[doxieone]

37. Guys I sent an alert to DU about this thread that I started..

because.....

Well... because.

I had seen the distancing article already before CNN came on.

Have I made a major error??

[doxieone]

38. PS Ticker on Headline news just said Bush and Rumsefeld

agree: 9/11 and Saddam not connected.

[ronnykmarshall]

40. Yahoo story.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&u=/nm/20030917/ts_nm/iraq_usa_dc_5

Hmmmm? Maybe there is something to Unka Dickie gettin' dumped.

[Miramar]

42. What the pResident says makes no sense

If Sadaam has al Qaeda links because al Zarqawi, an al Qaeda operative, was in Baghdad, then by his logic HE is involved with al Qaeda because of the operatives that were in this country.

[Emboldened Chimp]

44. And why do they keep citing the killed diplomat?

Wasn't he killed after the war starte? Correct me if I'm wrong.

[goforit]

45. "Don't get too cockey Starfox"..........* always rewards buddies who fail!

Cheney, according to *, can mess up any time he wants.

Both these bozos are above the law and their zombie following
lets them do it.

[Warren Stuart]

49. This makes no sense

It's not Friday afternoon, Yes there is a hurricane coming but it's not going to affect 95% of the country.

There is nothing positive for Bush in this, if Cheney was going to fall on his sword, then he would give the typical "spend time with family" or "health concerns".

The media jumps through any hoop they put up, they got a gazillion dollars for the next election. What's up?

I read a report yesterday that stated that the oil that was supposed to be in Iraq, is not there. Saddam lied about the oil reserves to keep his stature up. If this is true then we really did go to war over nothing.

If there is no oil how will they pay for Iraq's reconstruction? Heck we can't afford to feed our own troops how are we going to rebuild Iraq when we are running a 500 billion dollar deficit?

Something stinks, somethings up. This don't make sense.

[Unknown Known]

53. Bingo! I think you're on to something here

There's no oil or at least not what they thought. That must be it. The Texas oil money is PISSED at Dickie. It makes sense that Saddam exaggerated the oil because Blix just came out and verified the story that Saddam exaggerated about his WMDs as a threat against attack.

I know that the Russians & French had oil leases in Iraq. And what about the oil for food program?

This is intriguing, but it makes more sense knowing that Dickie pissed off Texas oil money. That's the shoe you should never step on.

[DoYouEverWonder]

55. Plus the Afghan Pipeline

has turned into a pipe dream. Maybe Dickie did piss off his buddies? Mmm?

[Emillereid]

63. Where can I find the story reporting less oil in Iraq?

[NashVegas]

54. What Dick Cheney Said on MtP 9/16/01

VICE PRES. CHENEY: There is — in the past, there have been some activities related to terrorism by Saddam Hussein. But at this stage, you know, the focus is over here on al-Qaida and the most recent events in New York. Saddam Hussein’s bottled up, at this point, but clearly, we continue to have a fairly tough policy where the Iraqis are concerned.

MR. RUSSERT: Do we have any evidence linking Saddam Hussein or Iraqis to this operation?

VICE PRES. CHENEY: No.

====

What James Woolsey said on 9/12

JAMES WOOLSEY, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Yes.

KAGAN: When the president says, this is a different enemy than every before, what does he mean by that?

WOOLSEY: Well, he's talking about terrorists, in particularly, a group like bin Laden's. And I thought the president's address was eloquent and stirring even. But he used a word, "harbor," which he used last night. A harbor for terrorists might be, say, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. But there may be more involved than harbors here, there may be a government other than a harbor, such as the Iraqi government, that is orchestrating this to some extent, funding it, working closely on it behind bin Laden or some other terrorist group. I very much hope the Bush administration, unlike Clinton administration, will not set aside this possibility and assume that everything is just a terrorist group, even a terrorist group as major as bin Laden's. It really need to look carefully at the possibility there may be state sponsorship here, and I think the most likely, certainly not the only possibility is Iraq.

[demgrrrll]

57. No Oil, or not enough Oil. That is a very interesting Iraq theory.

I wonder who would know. I wonder about the blown up oil pipes.
Kind of like peeling the layers from an onion.

[Nashyra]

59. Could this be the shake-up that "newsguy" was refering to?

If Cheney is axed and Powell is put on the ticket, that indeed is good for Dean and makes Clark less effective as a Pres. candidate, if this is the case I think a Dean/Clark or vice versa could still beat Chimp with anyone as his veep.

[Oilwellian]

60. Iraq's Biggest lie wasn't WMD's, it was the oil

This was posted on DU within the last couple of days. Thought it fit into the theme here quite well.

IT WAS OIL!

It finally all fits: Why the U.S. went into Iraq, why there has not been one WMD found, and what ex-President George Bush Senior may be doing in Russia - helping to negotiate oil deals and get control of gold trades as fast as the U.S. can!. Here is the BIG PICTURE low down from the web bots:

The web bots have pick up enough snippets of traffic out of Europe, specifically Swiss banker types and financial type sources, that suggest that Saddam Hussein not only lied about having WMDs but that more important - to the whole world - he lied about oil reserves as well!

Saddams motivation for lying about the WMDs seems clear in retrospect: He lied about them to keep Iran at bay on his Northern Frontiers, to keep Syria at arms length, and to insure that the Israelis were held in check and the Saudis left him alone.

According to the snips, relayed to me in a no-longer-confidential backgrounder with approval to release now, the amount of oil that will ultimately be recovered from Iraq may already be on the declining side of the Hubbert peak. In other words, the 3-million BPD that was being pumped before the U.S. invation may have been all anyone would EVER get from the fields, complete with rising salt water content and worse.

This also neatly explains why the Iraqis went into hyper-drive and invaded Kuwait which precipitated the first Iraq war: You may recall that the Kuwaitis were slant drilling (sideways drilling) across the border. If Saddam really had gobs of oil, he would not have gone ballistic, angry yes but invasion no. As the bot have it, there was not much left up north. The loss of any oil would have tipped off the big lie.

The Bush administration appears to be about to "hit the rocks" over oil in Iraq. The danger the administration faces is that if the word leaks out of the Iraq shortfall, before Bush Sr.a nd the Mobil/Exxon and ChevronTexaco parties can buy long term oil from Russia, the whole Western derivatives pyramid will come crashing down and our markets could be toast within 2 weeks.
http://www.urbansurvival.com/week.htm

[Wednesdays]

73. And Rotsa Ruck, Poppy

trying to get the Russians to sign on any deal, after Bushbaby thumbed his nose at them!

(edit: typo)

[Beam Me Up]

75. No petroleum left to extract from Iraq?

I showed a friend of mine the above portion of this thread and he repliced:

If there was no petroleum left to extract from Iraq, the consequences outlined would be correct. However, the international estimate of petroleum reserves does not depend on the information provided by any single government. With satellite infrared and magnetic imaging with computer analysis, most oil exploration is now done on the basis of likely geologic formations without exploratory drilling, on the ground searches or outdated "estimates" of reserves. No one makes an investment without having a fair degree of certainty of the risk involved. I think that we can count on this administration knowing the oil business.

Finally, I point out that petroleum shipments out of Iraq (and everywhere else)are done by pipeline and/or tanker. They are public events that are monitored and subject to verification at the destination, so that the petroluem shipment estimates before the war are also accurate.

Personally, I don't know enoug about this subject to have an opinion. I only hope that what we are observing is the beginnings of the fall of King George.

[BattyDem]

58. The list goes on and on ...

Bush blames Clinton ... Bush blames Cheney ... Bush blames his speech writers ... Bush blames the White House staff ... Bush blames the CIA ... Bush blames Tony Blair ... Bush blames the Democrats ... etc.

George and Barbara must be beaming with pride now that their little Shrub finally found something he's good at: passing the buck! :evilgrin:

[Resistance Is Futile]

62. Cheney = fall guy

The cabal has decided to pin the Iraq failure on Cheney in the hopes that his departure (which may very well be genuinely due to health reasons) will draw flak away from Shrub. It's no accident that the mainstream press finally paid attention to Cheney lying through his teeth on MTP. It was all part of the plan.

[9215]

66. a FUCKING

freeper joke or what!

Hayzoos, you fuckers are stacking up the propoganda on this one.

Thing is your fascist fuckbrain pResident is going down anyway! Heeeeeeee, heeeee.

[9215]

65. This goes absofuckinglutely NOWHere!!!!!

People you have got to slow THE FUCK DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and THINK!!!!!!

This is not a whipty fucking dooo conflict of opinion this is creative ambivalence........You can get your heads out of your fat asses and figure out the rest or, just let them reside in your fat asses.

GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR ASSES!!!!!!!

[piece sine]

67. this why it's called SPIN

I've been in some incoherent DU threads before but this one takes the blue ribbon for mis-reading an initial statement and spinning into another universe of conjecture, theories and second-guessing.

Here come the flames, but the CNN quote reads as follows: Bush concedes that there is no evidence that fingers Saddam Hussein with any direct invovement in the 9-11 attacks. Meanwhile Cheney and others say that there is evidence that Iraq has over-all links to AlQaeda.

Even the CSM article being waved-about states that Bush didn't actually make the 9-11 link to Saddam but inferred it in a round-about way.

The closer we get to the 2004 elections, the more urgent it is that both feet touch the ground. Defeating the Bush Administration will be hard enough without having to also slay imaginary dragons.

[Ripley]

68. Wishful thinking on DU is out of control.

Even if Cheney were to drop out, why the hell would he do it 13 months before the election?

He's not going anywhere. If anyone has been caught in an outright direct lie, it was Codi Rice. Multiple times. She'll go first.

I think this is all positive, because no matter which way people look at this, they will see that Smirk and Company have had to "splain themselves" once too many times which sounds like a cover-up, or a lie.

And think about that %70 who polled they believed Saddam was responsible for 9-11...won't they be saying..."Heeeeeeyyyyy, why did I believe that?" Someone lied to me! It's either a) the Government or b) the media.

[sattahipdeep]

76. "splain themselves"

lol thanks. :loveya:

[myomy]

74. * as always,ÓItÕs not my faultÓ.

He will never assume any responsibility for Anything.