NY Times: The Terrorism Link That Wasn't

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/19/opinion/19FRI1.html?th

This is from Friday, Sept. 19th. The opening paragraphs say:

On Wednesday, President Bush finally got around to acknowledging that there was no connection between Saddam Hussein and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

White House aides will tell you that Mr. Bush never made that charge directly. And that is so. But polls show that lots of Americans believe in the link. That is at least in part because the president's aides have left the implication burning.

Lots more in the article!

[Jennellist]

1. Bush attacked Iraq because he saw

it as the most powerful country among a core of Middle Eastern entities that absolutely despises America and has repeatedly called for its destruction. The existence of terrorist training sites in Iraq has never been in dispute. Whether or not you agree with Bush, this is why he attacked Iraq. He saw it as the head of the terrorist dragon.

[Lost4words]

2. yea right, NOT!

chimp cant see his way out of a wet paper bag without help!

I wish he had seen Madusa instead!

[mmm]

3. That's silly

Why not read the article, think about the author's well thought out
arguments, and respond.

[ET Awful]

4. Too bad that's not what he told the UN and the American people

I seem to remember words about massive threats of imminent destruction from chemical, biological and nuclear weapons which didn't then and don't now exist.

And, if Iraq is the most powerful country, then the US has absolutely nothing to fear, because they had no real army or defenses, and teh trumped up "WMD" that didn't exist, well, they don't exist.

Of course, we can keep sending money to Saudi Arabia where the majority of the 9/11 hijackers came from, no problem there.

[glarius]

11. Every time Bush was on TV, he would draw parallels between 9/11 and Iraq..

HE AND HIS CRONIES are absolutely responsible for the American public believing there is a connection....Now he's trying to weasel out, which is typical of the way he operates. He joined the National Guard during the Viet Nam war and then weaseled out of serving!....

[Bob3]

5. And it was full of oil.

Sorry - * attacked Iraq - well what's the reason today? Christ on a crutch they go by faster than a nascar racer.

To attack Iraq because it's the head of the terroist dragon is delusional. The cash, the life blood of terroism, is coming from Saudi Arabia, along with the vicious hateful mind set.

And those terorist training sites are located in the Kurdish controled north.

[joycep]

7. Sure, sure,

The fact that they had lots of oil had nothing to do with it. And his attitude of arrogance had nothing to do with it either. Come on--that man is a liar, a thief, and anything else you could think of to call him.

[JHB]

8. The "undisputed terrorist training sites"...

...are in the Kurdish-controlled north, in an area Saddam hasn't controlled since 1991.

[Drifter]

10. Name a single terrorist attack ...

that is attributed to Iraq. There are none.

You are full of shit. You fell for the lie.

Cheers
Drifter

[Brucey]

12. But Jennellist, think about what you're writing...

First, Bush never said that's why he invaded Iraq so I don't understand how you know why if he didn't say it, second, Iraq was not the most powerful country in the Middle East, they had been under sanctions for 12 years and didn't have an air force or much of an army left, in fact, they were likely the weakest country in the Middle East, third, if some people in Iraq despised US it is because of the actions of the US in the Middle East, fourth, UN inspectors had travelled safely in Iraq before the invasion, fifth, Bush, Cheney, and Rummy have all said that they have no evidence linking Iraq to 9/11 and only very indirect and questionalbe connections to Al Quada (that's not what liberals are saying, that's what your friends are saying). Bush never said he saw Iraq as the head of any terrorism, infact,they have now said they have no evidence. So, why do you think such things if the people you support don't even think them?

[tibbiit]

13. Those terrorist training camps were

In the part of Iraq that WE controlled for the last 12 years!
Bush is still lying... why arent the media calling him on the one about terrorist camps in the north?

THat pisses me off
lying dickheads
tib

[HootieMcBoob]

14. hello...anybody home?

Iraq, which had been decimated by war and 12 years of sanctions was the most powerful country in the middle east? What planet do you live on?

The only terrorist training sites that any intelligence agencies ever came up with were in the Kurdish northern region that the U.S. was in control of anyway, plus they had been used years and years before. The U.S. could have just flown in there and checked it out there was no reason on this earth to invade Iraq.

Excuse me, no GOOD reason.

[a_random_joel]

15. You may want to spend a little more time around here

You will learn a thing or two.

Here are some obvious refutations that can be made about your argument:

1. the most powerful country among a core of Middle Eastern entities that absolutely despises America. Have you heard of Saudi Arabia? While not necessarily calling for America's destruction, Pakistan would certainly qualify for your description seeing as they HAVE nukes, and a close relationship with the Taliban, and many terrorists have been arrested there, AND OBL is presumed to be living on the border there between Pakistan and Afghanistan. WHat have you to say about that?

2. The existence of terrorist training sites in Iraq has never been in dispute Actually, it has. In Powell's UN speech, he allegedly shows us one of these "camps" which later turned out to be a TV studio. It was actually ironic, because it was in the northern area, you know the part of iraq under control of the Kurds. You know who the Kurds are right? Supposedly our friends, and the biggest haters of Saddam that side of the Sunni triangle. Please, get your facts straight.

3. He saw it as the head of the terrorist dragon. Funny, just the other day, he said it had no link to the terrorist attack of 9/11. Which is what this article was about, if you had bothered to read it. So to which dragon are you referring?

If you are going to post misinformation, it might be wise to be able to back it up with relevant facts. If you doubt any of the info I have presented, I will gladly post links and sources.

The mind is a terrible thing to waste...

[Jennellist]

18. Did I say he tied Saddam with 9-11?

No. I said he tied Saddam to terrorism. Read the post.

[a_random_joel]

20. Well

Seeing as how the only thing that the Bushies have which has made terrorism the issue of the day is 9/11 - it's kinda hard not to misinterpret you. BTW, I did read your post. I just read it again - My points are still valid. Should I try again?

I said he tied Saddam to terrorism Perhaps you are referring to 9/12, where an invisible airliner crashed into an invisible WTC, and caused the deaths of 3,000 invisible people. Other than that, what terrorism are you referring to?

Don't shoot the messenger. Read the message. Hint, hint.

On edit - spellcheck

[Jennellist]

22. Well, let's see....

There are the embassy bombings in the two African countries, the Khobar Towers bombings, the U.S.S. Cole, the WTC bombings in 1993. I'm sure there were more.

[CatWoman]

23. and therefore

Saddam was involved, or thought to be involved, or thought to have thought to be involved?

This is why we invaded Iraq?

The thought police should be arrested.

[a_random_joel]

24. And Saddam was involved how?

You want a bigger shovel?

[a_random_joel]

25. Interesting that you cite examples

that have all been attributed to Al Qaeda. Every single on of them had a connection to AQ or OBL.

I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself. Please answer the following question:

Who called Saddam an infidel for his secularized Islamic state, and do you think this entity would or would not benefit from an unilateral American pre-emptive attack on Iraq?

[CatWoman]

27. Right on, Joel

come out, come out, where ever you are...............

[realFedUp]

21. Welcome to DU

Hi Jennelist, as you can see you have lots of opinions
differing from your own, but we hope that everyone
can express them with respect. Thanks.

[Uzybone]

26. You need to remove Dean from your avatar

you obviously cant support him if you swallow the lies of Bush as easily as you do.

[hueyfreeman]

28. Global Terrorism is real

Global Terrorism is real and Iraq was a terror state. With ties to terrorism. The 9/11 tie is a Straw Dog from the Anti-war groups.

[pretzel4gore]

6. t'was cold blooded mass murder

for private political reasons. and that's it

[Martin Eden]

9. My favorite line is...

Stark honesty is the best weapon Mr. Bush can employ in maintaining public confidence in his leadership.

I don't think the author was trying to be funny, but that has me ROTFLMAO!!!

Bush has all kinds of weapons at his disposal, but stark honesty is simply not one of them.

[JHB]

16. "Stark Honesty" is Bush's reverse-pretzel

One floors him going into his mouth, the other would floor him if it ever came out of there.

[DemoVet]

19. This administration cannot function in the light of day.

Like cockroaches, they can only do their work in dark and run for cover when a light is shined their way. All of their "policies" are built on lies, one layer after another. If they started telling the truth now (as if they could ever figure where to begin) the wheels would fall right off their PNAC/CNP train. Certainly their biggest nightmare at this point is a Democratic AG or Senate, with subpoena powers.

[Democat]

17. Maybe the NY Times needs to stop reporting Bush's lies as facts

The media acts like they weren't a part of this lie spreading propaganda. Maybe if they questioned Bush instead of taking his every word as the word of god, we wouldn't be in this mess.

The U.S. media will continue to kiss Bush's ass and attack Democrats. It's pathetic.