Clark in 2002: "Certainly there's a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida."

[stickdog]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/01/12/politics1327EST0568.DTL

Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark said Monday a statement he made in 2002 about connections between Iraq and al-Qaida was consistent with his belief that Saddam Hussein was not linked to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In an October 2002 news conference in which he endorsed a New Hampshire Democrat for Congress, Clark said, "Certainly there's a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida."

According to a videotape provided by a rival campaign, Clark said, "It doesn't surprise me at all that they would be talking to al-Qaida, that there would be some al-Qaida there or that Saddam Hussein might even be, you know, discussing, 'Gee, I wonder since I don't have any scuds and since the Americans are coming at me, I wonder if I could take advantage of al-Qaida? How would I do it? Is it worth the risk? What could they do for me?"'


There goes Clark's ability to credibly go after Bush for lying through his teeth to the American people about this bullshit "connection."

[digno dave]

1. oh please

He has maintained that there were possibly low level contacts between the two. Also, if things played them self out where Iraq would be invaded by the US then the possibility existed that Saddam would encourage AL Queda to become involved. He would try to get the Mormon Tabernacle Choir involved if he thought they would distract or deter american forces.

What he has been saying during the primaries is that there was no connection between Al Queda and Saddam in regards to 9-11 or in any capacity that involved transfer of weapons or information. If there is any question on his position don't you think he would clarify it in his book? Oh wait, HE DID!!!



Next distortion please.....

[Dookus]

2. also discussed earlier today

[RafterMan]

3. Certainly

I would be stunned if there were no connection between Iraq and al Qaida. It seems pretty likely that there are connections between Iran and al Qaida. You can be damn certain there are tons of connections between Pakistan and al Qaida.

But none of these can be linked to 9/11, except by Bush logic. Hell, Clark even said he thought Iraq had WMDs, and it *still* didn't justify the war.

Why do you assume Bush's conclusions follow from his premises? Are you a fan?

[stickdog]

6. I think Bush's premises were bs as well. How 'bout you? (nt)

[RafterMan]

8. I guess

...my vast international intelligence networks don't provide me with quite the degree of certainty yours seem to be giving you.

But I'll say this: I felt if we had found vats of anthrax and armories stocked with VX, the war would *still* have be the wrong move. No part of my pre-war argument against it was based on unknowable suppositions about did he/didn't he.

So I'm pretty comfortable with Clark's statements, thanks for asking.

[stickdog]

10. Lots of smart people were fooled on WMD's.

Only idiots thought Saddam was helping his worst possible internal enemies.

[RafterMan]

12. Hmmm...

>Only idiots thought Saddam was helping his worst possible internal enemies.

I guess you're right. No secular autocrat would ever try to buy off the jihadis and sick them on his enemies.

Except of course Musharraf. And Assad...

[stickdog]

17. And which enemies are those? Saddam had SO MUCH to gain by hiring

an al Qaeda strike on the United States or a friend of the United States, right? So much more than he had to lose, right? Corroborating with your sworn enemy in an effort to piss off your bigger, stronger sworn enemy who is already just itching to crush you -- or any other oil rich state caught exporting terror -- like a flea.

I mean, Saddam's intelligence is SO MUCH better than ours and the Israelis' that we'd never, ever notice this, right? We'd never have any reason whatsoever to suspect anything. It would be a riskfree venture all from start to finish. It's not like anybody was watching or anything.

[AnnitaR]

4. Are you sure you've posted this in all the forums now?

:)

PLEASE read this line: "since the Americans are coming at me, I wonder if I could take advantage of al-Qaida?"
Notice the date of these remarks. This quote isn't about 9/11. Clark is talking about Saddam asking anyone and everyone for help once he believes an invasion is going to happen. I totally see his point here. Saddam would have sold his soul to the devil to get help in fighting the US once he knows Bush will not rest until he's gone.

People are not bothering to realize that Clark isn't talking about 9/11! Two totally different things here folks!

[hope42mro]

5. Let's continue the article, shall we...

Clark:

"It would be naive to think the Iraqi intelligence agency never tracked anyone from al-Quiada, but that's a far cry from saying there's a relationship between Saddam Hussein and 9/11," he said. "I've always said there's no relationship. I was doing nothing but explaining a New York Times front-page story of the day."

The article continues "On the day of Clark's 2002 news conference, the Times reported the CIA's claim that it had credible reports that al-Quiada leaders had sought contacts in Iraq who could help them acquire weapons of mass destruction."

Please everyone, read the whole article before passing judgment.
Then visit Clarkmyths.com

[Egnever]

7. Thanks for that

I hate it when people do this same thing to Dean and I dont like it much more when its done to clark either.

[kovasb]

9. It makes him look reasonable and trustworthy, not rabid.

Lets look at the facts.

At the time, most reasonable people believed that iraq probably had wmd. And given the shady world of intelligence, where everyone is intertwined, and most likely also sleeping with, everybody else to some extent, i was quite willing to believe that there were low-level contacts.

To a reasonable person like myself and wes clark, going to war causes more problems than it solves. To an unreasonable person like Shrub, you have to break a few eggs to make an omlet.

The fact of the matter is that the american public is with Wes on this one, so his credibility is NOT shot. They will hear these clips of Wes and say "Thats the feeling that i had, in vague terms" and then he will deliver his brilliant analysis and suddently they will 'remember' that they though the war was a bad idea the whole time.

There are more subtle methods to enlightement then yelling. Although at times yelling it the right thing to do.

[stickdog]

11. No. Saying Hussein was in bed with al Qaeda is equivalent to

saying Bill Clinton is in bed with Jerry Falwell.

Everybody (except perhaps Wes?) knew that was a load of crap from day one.

[kovasb]

13. thats not what he said.

He did not say the connection was strong. He said there was a connection, probably at the low level - and that because of the US threats, iraq and al qaeda are likely to develop more substantial linkage.

Is it really that hard to read and understand english?

Both of these are facts. Despite the claims of 'absolutely no connection' , we know that there are a few minor figures involved in varous dealing. Now before you jump all over me, i was a math major so to me there is a difference between 'absolutely no connection' and 'absolutely no meaningful connection'.

I also think its absurd for people to 'know' a priori that there was no connection AT ALL EVER.

And, So What? What is the purpose of all this nitpicking? Its already been proven that Clark has over and over again been on principle against the war and how it was executed. Are you saying your personal intelligence network is superior to Clark's, and so he is not a good candidate?

[stickdog]

18. What I'm saying is that he defended a whore article with a whore answer

because, at the time, it was the thing to do.

Not that that didn't happen to a lot of people at one time or another, but the more quotes Clark has like this, the more it compromises his ability to legitimately characterize the Iraq quagmire as the horrible blunder it was -- from start to finish.

[wyldwolf]

21. Exactly!

And the people here spinning the story a different way knows exactly what Clark said... they're just spinning it in a negative way to influence others.

[Tatiana]

14. From Clark's testimony before the Armed Services Committee:

SAXTON (R-NJ): Mr. Perle, General Clark indicated a few minutes ago that he wasn't sure -- I'm sorry, I don't want to mischaracterize what General Clark said but something to the effect that we don't have information that Al Qaida and the Iraqi regime are connected. Is that a fair characterization, General Clark?

CLARK: I'm saying there hasn't been any substantiation of the linkage of the Iraqi regime to the events of 9/11 or the fact that they are giving weapons of mass destruction capability to Al Qaida, yes sir.

[snyttri]

15. Questions about Clark's "Consistency" on Iraq and al-Qaeda

Juan Cole of Informed Consent

Edward Wyatt of the New York Times paints Gen. Wesley Clark as "inconsistent" for saying in October, 2002, that there were links between al-Qaeda and Saddam's Iraq, but for later saying that there were no such links. Then he brings up the early interview in which Clark said that he would have voted for the Iraq war resolution, but then later clarified that he thought the war unjustified.

This sort of article annoys the hell out of me. It is again that black and white simplistic thinking and demand for absolute consistency, which allows journalists to play "gotcha." I have been told by US government folks in counter-intelligence that they think there were low-level exploratory contacts between al-Qaeda and Baath intelligence. This allegation is plausible, and it is the sort of thing Clark was probably referring to in Oct. 2002. It is also meaningless. The contacts, if they existed, would only be important if they had gone somewhere or were at all likely to have gone somewhere. They weren't, which is what Clark means when he says now that there were no (significant) Iraq-al-Qaeda links. Mukhabarat or secret police talk to all the thugs in the world. But al-Qaeda officials like Abu Zubaida and Khalid Shaikh Muhammad say that Bin Laden forbade them from cooperating with the secular infidel Baath. Nor would Saddam have been willing to trust al-Qaeda with anything really important or powerful. Hell, the Iraqi secret police probably talked to Israeli intelligence, too. So what? Nothing came of it and by 1992 the Israelis were trying to assasinate Saddam.

http://tinyurl.com/2ngn8

[balloon_guy]

16. Clark's Defense

Clark said he was relying on a report from Tenet, the head of CIA, not realizing how politicized the agency had become since he left the "inner circle" (my paraphrase)

[Gore1FL]

19. Now I get to defend Clark.

Based ont he infomration available at that time (lies) that was no an unreasonable logical conclusion. It was not until the lies were exposed as such that those who believed the residents logic found they were wrong due to the misinformation supplied.

I come to this forum to help me out of "undecided mode"

Your not going to win my vote by slamming candidates, your are going to get it by showing me the best candidate.

If you must resort to attacks, at least use legitimate ones.

[wyldwolf]

20. Discussed, debunked, and unspun... but did you hear about Dean?

Here is one of the other threads on ths topic where your angle wa already discussed, debunked, and unspun... on national TV!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=108252&mesg_id=108252

But did you hear about Dean?

He said he admired the first president Bush! This goes hand in hand with him saying Cheney is an ideal Vice President and that Colin Powell would make a grear sec. of state in any administration...

[Gore1FL]

22. Somehow

I imagine your stuff is contextually the same...

If Dean and Clark were as evil as everyone in the opposite camps seemed to claim, I wouldn't bother to vote.

Frankly, it is all Bullshit.

You'd think that as active and as infomredas I am, making a decision would be easy.

Frankly, all I get lately is reasons not to vote.

This is not the way to stir the base, and inspire people into the process.

[Moderator]

23. dupe

Please continue the discussion here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=105036



DU Moderator