Al Qaeda Link To Iraq May Be Confusion Over Names (wrong again on link)

[UpInArms]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58899-2004Jun21.html

An allegation that a high-ranking al Qaeda member was an officer in Saddam Hussein's private militia may have resulted from confusion over Iraqi names, a senior administration official said yesterday.

Former Navy secretary John Lehman, a Republican member of the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said Sunday that documents found in Iraq "indicate that there is at least one officer of Saddam's Fedayeen, a lieutenant colonel, who was a very prominent member of al Qaeda." Although he said the identity "still has to be confirmed," Lehman introduced the information on NBC's "Meet the Press" to counter a commission staff report that said there were contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda but no "collaborative relationship."

Yesterday, the senior administration official said Lehman had probably confused two people who have similar-sounding names.

One of them is Ahmad Hikmat Shakir Azzawi, identified as an al Qaeda "fixer" in Malaysia. Officials say he served as an airport greeter for al Qaeda in January 2000 in Kuala Lumpur, at a gathering for members who were to be involved in the attacks on the USS Cole, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Iraqi military documents, found last year, listed a similar name, Lt. Col. Hikmat Shakir Ahmad, on a roster of Hussein's militia, Saddam's Fedayeen.

...more...

muddying the waters and sowing confusion - that's all these pieces of crap have to offer - unsubstantiated oopsies! that never get the press that the original spin and lies do.

[Liberal Veteran]

1. Ooops....our bad. We'll just tidy up and leave.

Sorry about the little mix up.

[Spazito]

2. LOL

They sure are having a lot of oopsies lately.

[billybob537]

3. Did you just see the Daily show

They showed Cheney denying he said "pretty well confirmed" Then they showed the clip where he said "pretty well confirmed" About the al quieda Saddam connection.

[jeff5]

4. .

That and the guy expert enough to write a book without knowing both sides used chemicals in the Iran/Iraq war.

I want Jon Stewart as Kerry's White House Press Whore ;)

[leftchick]

8. and John saying... "uh, Mr. vice president,....

your pants are on fire"! Priceless! :)

[kungfugrip]

5. quote from article...

"it doesn't look like a match to most analysts In an interview yesterday, Lehman said it is still possible the man in Kuala Lumpur was affiliated with Hussein, even if he isn't the man on the Fedayeen roster. "It's one more instance where this is an intriguing possibility that needs to be run to ground," Lehman said."


Good job Lehman. The "If we believe hard enough then it has to be true" argument is used quite often these days.

[wellst0nev0ter]

6. Faith-Based Intelligence

Once again, through all the intelligence failures that has led us to this clusterfuck, and the 830+ soldiers killed over a bunch of lies, these dipshits have learned . . . nothing :grr:

[billybob537]

17. 845 as of Sunday Sorry!

[Beetwasher]

7. This Was Getting Play on Headline News

Pathetic...

[AlGore-08.com]

9. So... they don't even have the same first and last names...

But Lehman can't tell them apart?

[Maeve]

10. Arabic names can be confusing

There was a thread in GD about this in reference to why Saddam isn't "Mr Hussein"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1793461#1793482

That said, just because two lists in the US mention "John J Jones", you can't assume it's the same guy...or that "J J Jones" is even related to either of the first two.

[qb]

11. How the hell are we supposed to have faith in the 9-11 commission

when their members spew disinformation in order to shield Bush?

[Cocoa]

15. I agree

I think Lehman was helping Cheney blow smoke in our eyes.

[daleo]

12. This phony name confusion was useful in Florida, too

To disenfranchise thousands of voters. They like to stay with tricks that worked in the past.

[mike1963]

13. That "senior admin. official" better stay REAL anonymous...

:eyes:

[struggle4progress]

14. The Bushistas really count on nobody paying attention. eom

[quagmire_iraq]

16. You know I work a lot cheaper...

If all I got to do is match up names and names and come up with a number and get free perks of travel round the world in rummies 757 with a pay of 250K.. Heck think I could do that..

You spend what 100 billion? Thats 100,000 million on intelligence and this is the best? I mean I am just wondering... Are americans shameless????? I would be ashamed to talk about all these stuff in public... Especially considering the amount of money and technology and man power that gets spent on this.

This is worse than going around saying you are suffering from pre-mature ejaculation.

[billybob537]

18. I could come up with better Bullshit