Question Details	Asked By	Asked On
9/11 Commission	excon	06/17/04
Hello war dudes who’re doin the wrong war: It's hard to imagine how the bi-partisan commission investigating the 2001 terrorist attacks could have put it more clearly yesterday: there was never any evidence of a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda, between Saddam Hussein and Sept. 11. I guess the information you had somehow didn’t get to the committee, or maybe it’s a cover-up by (what would gade call it?) the hate Bush crowd. This is not just a matter of the president's diminishing credibility, although that's disturbing enough. The real war on terror has actually suffered as the conflict in Iraq has diverted military and intelligence resources from places like Afghanistan, where there could really be Qaeda forces, including bin Laden. Did he lie, or was he fooled? I dunno and I don’t care. In either case, his incompetence is evident. If there’s anything I expect from a Republican administration, it's competence. My only fear is that Kerry may be equally incompetent. excon
Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 06/18/04 11:09 am: Democrat Commissioner Lee Hamilton said to UPS : I must say I have trouble understanding the flack over this. The Vice President is saying, I think, that there were connections between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's government. We don't disagree with that. What we have said is what the governor just said, we don't have any evidence of a cooperative, or a corroborative relationship between Saddam Hussein's government and these al Qaeda operatives with regard to the attacks on the United States. So it seems to me the sharp differences that the press has drawn, the media has drawn, are not that apparent to me.
Answered By		Answered On
tomder55		06/17/04
I have about 100 links that says otherwise. Here is the relevent part of the statement by the commission: Bin Laden also explored possible cooperation with Iraq during his time in Sudan, despite his opposition to Hussein's secular regime. Bin Laden had in fact at one time sponsored anti-Saddam Islamists in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Sudanese, to protect their own ties with Iraq, reportedly persuaded Bin Laden to cease this support and arranged for contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda. A senior Iraqi intelligence officer reportedly made three visits to Sudan, finally meeting Bin Laden in 1994. Bin Laden is said to have requested space to establish training camps, as well as assistance in procuring weapons, but Iraq apparently never responded. There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda also occurred after Bin Laden returned to Afghanistan, but they do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship. 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. Ok ,now they had access to all types of files;including CIA . But here is what George Tenet wrote to Congress 10/7/02 . Our understanding of the relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda is evolving and is based on sources of varying reliability. Some of the information we have received comes from detainees, including some of high rank. We have solid reporting of senior level contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda going back a decade. Credible information indicates that Iraq and Al Qaeda have discussed safe haven and reciprocal nonaggression. Since Operation Enduring Freedom, we have solid evidence of the presence in Iraq of Al Qaeda members, including some that have been in Baghdad. We have credible reporting that Al Qaeda leaders sought contacts in Iraq who could help them acquire W.M.D. capabilities. The reporting also stated that Iraq has provided training to Al Qaeda members in the areas of poisons and gases and making conventional bombs. Iraq's increasing support to extremist Palestinians coupled with growing indications of relationship with Al Qaeda suggest that Baghdad's links to terrorists will increase, even absent U.S. military action. He said the same thing to the Senate Armed Services Committee March 9, 2004. According to the staff report, bin Laden originally pressed Khalid Sheik Mohammed "that the attacks occur as early as mid-2000," even though bin Laden "recognized that Atta and the other pilots had only just arrived in the United States to begin their flight training .Then suddenly Atta makes two trips to Prague (to meet with Iraqi Intelligence Agents according to Chech Intelligence)immediately before heading to the United States to begin that flight training. Coincidence? The 9-11 Commission is not the last word on this . Because they did not find proof positive that Saddam wasn't involved in operational planning of 9-11 doesn't mean that there existed no cooperation between Saddam and al Qaeda. One of the first missions of the current war was a bombing raid of an al qaeda camp operating inside of Iraq. How is it that an al-qaeda camp was there if Saddam did not permit it?

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