With 9/11 Report, Bush's Political Thorn Grows More Stubborn

[papau]

Banned biological and chemical weapons: none yet found.

Percentage of Iraqis who view American-led forces as liberators: 2% (according to a poll commissioned last month by the Coalition Provisional Authority)

Number of possible Al Qaeda associates known to have been in Iraq in recent years: one, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose links to the terrorist group and Mr. Hussein's government remain sketchy.

And Cheney says in Florida on Monday "...Saddam...had long-established ties with Al Qaeda."

But the 9/11 panel's report yesterday said: "Two senior bin Laden associates have adamantly denied that any ties existed between Al Qaeda and Iraq. We have no credible evidence that Iraq and Al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States."....(the report goes on to note that Osama did seek help from Saddam in the 90's, "despite his opposition to Hussein's secular regime", but all Saddam did was to send an official to meet with Osama in Sudan - Saddam stiffed his request for weapons and training-camp space - and the panel said there never was a meeting in Prague between an Iraqi intelligence officer and Mohammed Atta.

Crebility of a President and Vice President - priceless!



http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/17/politics/17assess.html

With 9/11 Report, Bush's Political Thorn Grows More Stubborn
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON

Published: June 17, 2004


ASHINGTON, June 16 - The bipartisan commission investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks further called into question on Wednesday one of President Bush's rationales for the war with Iraq, and again put him on the defensive over an issue the White House was once confident would be a political plus.

In questioning the extent of any ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda, the commission weakened the already spotty scorecard on Mr. Bush's justifications for sending the military to topple Saddam Hussein.<snip>

That is the difficult reality Mr. Bush faces 15 months after ordering the invasion of Iraq, and less than five months before he faces the voters at home. The commission's latest findings fueled fresh partisan attacks on his credibility and handling of the war, attacks that now seem unlikely to be silenced even if the return of sovereignty to the Iraqis comes off successfully in two weeks.

Senator John Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, was quick to seize on the commission's report to reprise his contention that Mr. Bush "misled" the American people about the need for the war. Even some independent-minded members of Mr. Bush's own party said they sensed danger.<snip>

Mr. Bush has said that he knows of no direct involvement by Mr. Hussein and his government in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But the president has repeatedly asserted that there were ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda, a position he stuck to on Tuesday when he was asked about Vice President Dick Cheney's statement a day earlier that Mr. Hussein had "long-established ties with Al Qaeda."<snip>

[opihimoimoi]

1. The House of STRAW iz burning..... call the Gas Company

[yellowcanine]

2. The "Atta metting with Iraqi in Prague" story has died with a whimper in

the glare of incontrovertible physical evidence that Atta was in the U.S. at the time of the supposed meeting. Poor Dick Cheney! He was so hoping that story was true.