Al Qaeda Link To Iraq May Be Confusion Over Names

[funnymanpants]

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.

Read more at

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

The Repubican spin machine in full force. Lehman leaks bogus information to make a headline, knowing that it will stick with most people who only get their news in passing. Will he now retract his statment?

[SpiralHawk]

1. Oh, well excuuuuuse us

That explains everything. How could we have ever doubted the motivation of BushCo?

Time to move along. Our government is obviously doing the work of the angels (of death).

[Mithras61]

2. Confusion over names...

Their names all sound alike, and they all look alike, so it's reasonable that we couldn't tell them apart! </sarcasm>

Well, gee, maybe the ANALYSTS that said "there's no credible evidence of a link" actually DID know what they were talking about, hmmmm?!?!?

[myomy]

8. Must be sorta like the Florida voter rolls with simular felon names.

.

[Robb]

3. The only possible confusion

...was confusing Iraq for Saudi Arabia. :eyes:

[stickdog]

4. Democratic lies = impeachment. Republican lies = confusion.

So Lehman gets busted for getting two different guys "confused" to cover Cheney's @#%$, and what does he say?

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. "The most intriguing part of it is not whether or not he was in the Fedayeen, but whether or not the guy who attended Kuala Lumpur had any connections to Iraqi intelligence. . . . We don't know."

Translation: You can't prove a negative! You can't prove this guy WASN'T in with Hussein!

These guys really make me sick. Do they think we're all retarded?

[BattyDem]

7. So ....

If you can't prove it's not true, then it is true??? :wtf:

[justjones]

5. Let's all just stick the index finger and thumb of both hands out....

then place the tips of our thumbs together to make the "W" sign and scream simultaneously: wwwwhhhhhaaaatttttt---ttthhhhheeee-ffffuuucccckkkk-eeeeevvvvveeeeer!!!

[struggle4progress]

6. kick

:kick:

[Democat]

9. The media does everything to defend the Bush administration!

This would be called a lie and a scandal if it was a Democrat.

This is only the 1000th "confusion" bullshit lie from the media.

[tom_paine]

10. LIAR! SOOOOO sick of these liars and thugs and criminals shitting all

over us.

They must think pretty low of the Imperial Subjects they rule.

But not all of us are Whipped and Fearful Dogs, like most of the rest of the Imperial Subjects of Amerika.

[Ilsa]

11. They were also "mistaken" over the rise in global terrorism

per their retracted State Dept report. No harm done. (Yeah, right.)

[DavidFL]

12. Lehman signatory of PNAC letter

April 3, 2002


The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
Washington, DC

Dear Mr. President:

We write to thank you for your courageous leadership in the war on terrorism and to offer our full support as you continue to protect the security and well-being of Americans and all freedom-loving peoples around the world.

In particular, we want to commend you for your strong stance in support of the Israeli government as it engages in the present campaign to fight terrorism. As a liberal democracy under repeated attack by murderers who target civilians, Israel now needs and deserves steadfast support. This support, moreover, is essential to Israel’s continued survival as a free and democratic nation, for only the United States has the power and influence to provide meaningful assistance to our besieged ally. And with the memory of the terrorist attack of September 11 still seared in our minds and hearts, we Americans ought to be especially eager to show our solidarity in word and deed with a fellow victim of terrorist violence.

No one should doubt that the United States and Israel share a common enemy. We are both targets of what you have correctly called an “Axis of Evil.” Israel is targeted in part because it is our friend, and in part because it is an island of liberal, democratic principles -- American principles -- in a sea of tyranny, intolerance, and hatred. As Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld has pointed out, Iran, Iraq, and Syria are all engaged in “inspiring and financing a culture of political murder and suicide bombing” against Israel, just as they have aided campaigns of terrorism against the United States over the past two decades. You have declared war on international terrorism, Mr. President. Israel is fighting the same war.

<snip>

Furthermore, Mr. President, we urge you to accelerate plans for removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. As you have said, every day that Saddam Hussein remains in power brings closer the day when terrorists will have not just airplanes with which to attack us, but chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons, as well. It is now common knowledge that Saddam, along with Iran, is a funder and supporter of terrorism against Israel. Iraq has harbored terrorists such as Abu Nidal in the past, and it maintains links to the Al Qaeda network. If we do not move against Saddam Hussein and his regime, the damage our Israeli friends and we have suffered until now may someday appear but a prelude to much greater horrors. Moreover, we believe that the surest path to peace in the Middle East lies not through the appeasement of Saddam and other local tyrants, but through a renewed commitment on our part, as you suggested in your State of the Union address, to the birth of freedom and democratic government in the Islamic world.

<snip>

Sincerely,

William Kristol Ken Adelman Gary Bauer Jeffrey Bell
William J. Bennett Ellen Bork Linda Chavez Eliot Cohen
Midge Decter Thomas Donnelly Nicholas Eberstadt Hillel Fradkin Frank Gaffney Jeffrey Gedmin Reuel Marc Gerecht Charles Hill
Bruce P. Jackson Donald Kagan Robert Kagan John Lehman
Tod Lindberg Rich Lowry Clifford May Joshua Muravchik
Martin Peretz Richard Perle Daniel Pipes Norman Podhoretz
Stephen P. Rosen Randy Scheunemann Gary Schmitt
William Schneider, Jr. Marshall Wittmann R. James Woolsey

http://www.newamericancentury.org/Bushletter-040302.htm