How did I miss this?! The Atta-Saddam-AlQaeda all-purpose connection.

[Brotherjohn]

I guess I wasn't reading much then, but a LTTE in my local paper brought up Con Coughlin's London Daily Telegraph story about the memo neatly linking Saddam/Iraqi intelligence/Al Qaeda/Mohammed Atta/9-11. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/12/14/wterr114.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/12/14/ixnewstop.html)

Of course, the letter writer complained that we aren't hearing about THIS in the liberal-biased U.S. media!! Why was the media ignoring the smoking gun linking everything Bush ever wanted to be linked re Iraq/terrorism/WMD?!

Maybe we didn't hear about it much because it is obviously another ridiculous forgery, as Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball so succinctly showed in their report for Newsweek just a few days after the original story ran. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3741646/)

Not only do they reveal that FBI tracking of Mr. Atta throughout the time showed he could not have been in Iraq, but they point out the burgeoning trade in such forged documents that's going on in Iraq. They also point out the unusual detail and frankness of the memo which, despite allegedly being from the head of Iraqi intelligence, reveals all of the details about everything you (or Bush) ever wanted to know about Iraq, WMDs, terrorism, and 9-11. Gee, it's almost as though it were specifcally written to prove everything Bush had ever said on the subject.

Maybe that's because it was. It's so obvious it's laughable. Here are some quotes:

"Mohammed Atta, an Egyptian national, came with Abu Ammer and we hosted him in Abu Nidal's house at Al-Dora under our direct supervision. We arranged a work program for him for three days with a team dedicated to working with him ... He displayed extraordinary effort and showed a firm commitment to lead the team which will be responsible for attacking the targets that we have agreed to destroy."

OKAY, OKAY! We get it! Iraq was involved!! Jeez, how obvious do you have to be? You'd think the head of a nation's intelligence agency might be a little more subtle... a little vague.

The second part of the memo contained a report of how Iraqi intelligence, helped by "a small team from the al-Qaeda organisation", arranged for a shipment from Niger to reach Baghdad by way of Libya and Syria. The memo further states that the successful completion of the shipment was "the fruit of your excellent secret meeting with Bashir al-Asad (the Syrian president) on the Iraqi-Syrian border", and concludes: "May God protect you and save you to all Arab nations."

WELL!! There you have it! Iraq not only was in cahoots with Al Qaeda, but personally sponsored and trained Mohammed Atta to attack the WTC. Did I mention they sponsored him? Hosted him? Under their direct supervision? Arranged a work program for him? Dedicated a team to working with him? Did you get all of that?

Oh, and along with that, Iraq worked, with Al Qaeda, to get that shipment of yellowcake from Niger. They also had the help of Libya and Syria, and even met (secretly, I should say, even though it was in the memo) with Syria's president. This was, presumably, to arrange to hand over all of the WMDs in the event that the U.S. attacked.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that Iraq specifically approved Atta's targets... the WTC and the Pentagon?

Despite the fact that it is ridiculous on its face, the strongest evidence that the memo is not authentic is that the Bush administration is not shouting about it from the top of the highest hill. To this day, Cheney is still pushing dubious connections between Atta and Iraq, yet even HE won't touch this one. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40116-2004Jan22.html)

Even Con Coughlin states, in his first paragraph, that the memo appears almost too good to be true". Hmmmnnn. Maybe that's because it ISN'T!

[Bozola]

1. In arabic, doesn't Al Qaeda translate to "Clinton's Penis"?

[Brotherjohn]

2. Speaking of Arabic, I noticed that the SOTU address on the WH web page...

... is in two alternate languages: Spanish and Arabic.

Now, I understand the first. Spanish is widely spoken in the U.S.

But ARABIC? They couldn't even find enough Arabic translators to translate incoming messages from terrorists prior to 9-11!

Methinks the Bush administration is bending over backwards a bit too far to look as though they're NOT in fact waging a war against Islam. That "crusade" thing? Just a slip of the tongue!