US 'allowed Zarqawi to escape'

[ECH1969]

The United States deliberately passed up repeated opportunities to kill the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, before the March 2003 US-led invasion of that country. The claim, by former US spy Mike Scheuer, was made in an interview to be shown on ABC TV's Four Corners tonight.

Mr Scheuer claims that a July 2002 plan to destroy the camp lapsed because "it was more important not to give the Europeans the impression we were gunslingers".

"Mr Bush had Zarqawi in his sights almost every day for a year before the invasion of Iraq and he didn't shoot because they were wining and dining the French in an effort to get them to assist us in the invasion of Iraq," he told Four Corners.

"Almost every day we sent a package to the White House that had overhead imagery of the house he was staying in. It was a terrorist training camp . . . experimenting with ricin and anthrax . . . any collateral damage there would have been terrorists."

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/us-allowed-zarqawi-to-escape/2006/04/30/1146335608444.html

[msgadget]

1. This is a 'Duh',

just as letting O'Been Lost get away was. Hindsight is one thing - it's always 20/20 - but the 'mistakes' made in this war caused the region's current instability (such an understatement)- Mission Accomplished.

[saigon68]

18. a terrorist training camp . . . experimenting with ricin and anthrax

They are dreaming

[ECH1969]

19. No they aren't

Zarqawi is one of al-Qaeda's few surviving chemical weapons experts.

http://iafrica.com/news/worldnews/399314.htm

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/27/1043533989987.html

[saigon68]

20. Show me the money

[CJCRANE]

2. 4 words: Bin Laden, Tora Bora.

Same story, different names.

[tocqueville]

3. what a load of crap

the French never gave a rat's ass about Zarquawi. The reasons not to go to war was that the French Intelligence knew that Saddam didn't have any WMDS and that besides the whole thing would end up in a mess. And the US was very aware of that and there was no reasons to "dine" the French

Then I love those "experiments with ricin and anthrax". They must have had very powerful binoculars. The experiments have probably failed since in those last 3 years neither ricin or anthrax have been used in Iraq or anywhere else.

well agent Mike, regarding desinformation, you can do better...

if the US failed to capture Zarquawi, it's because agent Mike is fully incompetent. Then you can always blame the French...

[ECH1969]

4. Dude he was blaming Bush not the French

Bush was trying very hard to get the French aboard and feared heavy bombing of Iraq before they got the French on board would piss them off which it would have.

This has nothing to do with what the French thought of Zarqawi.

By the way Mike Scheuer is a huge critic of the administation, was in the CIA at the time, and wrote a book right before the 2004 election attacking Bush.

[tocqueville]

15. sorry but what he says doesn't make sense...

Bush never took the French into consideration, they were barely asked to participate in Afghanistan, they more or less invited themselves. So MOTIVATING the non-attack on Zarquawi - a known terrorist - by wanting to "dine" the French is completely preposterous.

I haven't read his book. But if he points towards incompetence I can only but agree. And I still don't buy the ricin/anthrax story, unless they had a man inside or any other material proof. This has never showed up.

[alfredo]

14. You need to read his book, "Imperial Hubris."

The French were smart not to take part. They knew bush's arguments for war were bullshit. They knew the war would be a war crime, they also knew the French public was against the war and would have never stood for France taking part in such an adventure.


Several years ago there were reports that the president turned down three chances to kill Zarqawi. With him dead they wouldn't have as good a case for war. He was the monster under the bed. He was worth more alive than dead.

BTW, I don't see where the French were dissed. They were our best friends because they told the truth when others saw it as a chance to take part in the spoils of war.

[951-Riverside]

5. Oh great another unknown australian source

These australian sources are as reliable as capital hill blue

[ECH1969]

6. The Age is a reputable source

[Rose Siding]

7. It's true they passed up several chances to get Zarqawi. NBC News link-

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4431601

By Jim Miklaszewski
Pentagon Correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 7:14 p.m. ET March 2, 2004
With Tuesday’s attacks, Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant with ties to al-Qaida, is now blamed for more than 700 terrorist killings in Iraq.

But NBC News has learned that long before the war the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist operation and perhaps kill Zarqawi himself — but never pulled the trigger.......

[Sydnie]

10. Wow, I missed that little tidbit in the grand scheme of things

Thanks Rose, for bringing that back up. I learned something powerful today.

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. Think about it - if they'd gotten OBL right off the bat

.
.
.

How could the PNACers ever sold these wars on Afghanistan and Iraq to the mesmerized USA public?

NO

There was NO goal to catch the perpetrators of 911 quickly

The PNACers wanted to wage war in the Middle East

Catching Usama Bin Laden, or whomever else was responsible for 911 would have cooled the heels of most USA voters to go to war

Bush wanted war

Bush let the Bin Ladens fly out of the country before he would even allow his own electorate to fly INSIDE the country

Dumm fecking voters down there

Well - y'all got war now

and are more despised than China and Russia put together

gotta remember -

USA is in over 120 countries in the world with their bases and their military

China and Russia stick to themselves

Sumthing to think about

AND

we live next door to y'all

(sigh)

[Bonhomme Richard]

9. I feel like I'm in groundhog day. n/t

[creeksneakers2]

11. I think if the general public knew this it would destroy Bush

When the first reports of Zarqawi being passed up were broadcast by NBC, the Bush administration denied the story. Other media outlets passed it up until the Wall Street Journal did an extensive piece just before the 2004 election. The Bush administration admitted to the WSJ that the story as told on NBC was correct, in effect admitting that the Bush administration lied their way out it the first time. And the Bush administration had great reason to lie.

Before the war, the White House might have been telling insiders that they were overlooking Zarqawi to please the French. This is obviously another one of Bush's lies. Before the war, there was a faction in the debate who, as an alternative to total war, favored limited strikes against Iraq to take out any suspected terrorists or WMD sites. If Bush could take out a terrorist camp without invading, its likely the public would have concluded that an invasion wasn't necessary to solve the problems Bush insisted Iraq had.

Bush ran in 2004 almost exclusively on his ability to fight terrorism. If the Zarqawi story was given a hard look, it would have proved that Bush was willing to ignore terrorism to go to Iraq. Bush claimed Iraq was PART of the war on terror. Letting Zarqawi go meant Bush knew he wanted the war in Iraq INSTEAD of the war on terror. If this story had been pushed properly, it would have destroyed Bush's entire case for himself and the war.

It would be nice if the story caught on this time. Attention to what happened could destroy Bush.

[NewJeffCT]

13. Wall Street Journal - just more liberal media

They also confirmed the bin Laden got away from Tora Bora story as well. If you stay away from their editorial pages, their reporting is actually pretty good.

[ECH1969]

12. Damn, I wish the Freeptards got to see this article

[Doctor_J]

16. Zarqawi = abortion

if they ever actually GET RID OF Zarqawi, they'll have lost one of their main campaign issues. Same with abortion. "Vote for us, or every corner will have an abortion clinic". Well, they've been in charge for 12 years, and abortion's still legal. And Al Queda is healthy as a horse.

[daleo]

17. Bush needs Zarquwi

If he didn't exist, Bushco would have to invent him...come to think of it...

[pinniped]

21. Face it, NO ONE will ever get al-Zarqawi or OBL.

.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

22. The NeoCons and the terrorists are two sides of the same coin....

...they both need each other to exist.