FBI Pressured to Gin Up Iraq-al-Qaeda Links

[Laura PourMeADrink]

http://www.antiwar.com/sperry/?articleid=8262

FBI Pressured to Gin Up Iraq-al-Qaeda Links

by Paul Sperry
In the run-up to the Iraq war, FBI veterans say they were pressured by the Bush administration to come up with links, no matter how tenuous, between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda to help sell the planned military incursion.

They came up empty, however, and were told to redouble their efforts, scraping the bottom of the barrel, former officials say. When they still came up empty, the administration did not invite the bureau to the critical prewar National Foreign Intelligence Board (NFIB) meeting that produced the dossier on Iraq used by the White House to sway Congress.

The FBI normally has a seat at the NFIB. But in this case, it was not represented, even though the dossier makes judgments about the likelihood of Hussein launching terrorist attacks inside the U.S. – a topic clearly within the FBI's realm of expertise.

John M. Cole, who retired late last year from the FBI as program manager for foreign intelligence investigations covering Pakistan and Afghanistan, says he and other managers were tasked before the war with exhausting all sources in the field for information tying Iraq to al-Qaeda. snip

[rodeodance]

1. I wish stuff like this was in mainstream papers.

"I remember thinking it was bullsh*t, because it just seemed to me they were grasping at anything they could find to justify this war," Cole says. "And I was sitting there telling this is wrong – we should never attack somebody unless they're a threat to us. Saddam's not attacking us, he hasn't attacked us, he's not the threat. The al-Qaeda group is the threat. Why are we even looking at Iraq?"

Phone calls seeking comment from FBI headquarters were not immediately returned.

Cole, who voted for Bush in 2000, says the president's decision to invade Iraq in the middle of a war on al-Qaeda played right into Osama bin Laden's hands, and only made America a bigger target for terrorists.

"We're in a mess now though. Bin Laden started this thing, but now we've played right into his hands. Iraq validates everything he's been saying about America," he says. "By attacking Iraq we've increased the terrorist problem."

"Bush says we're fighting the terrorists over there and not here," he adds. "Well, he's made the whole situation worse, as far as I'm concerned."

[rodeodance]

2. we get this from another retired fbi manager. --too too late.

John M. Cole, who retired late last year from the FBI as program manager for foreign intelligence investigations covering Pakistan and Afghanistan, says he and other managers were tasked before the war with exhausting all sources in the field for information tying Iraq to al-Qaeda.

"Everybody was tasked," he recalls in a exclusive interview. "Right before we attacked, my unit chief came over and said, 'OK, I want you to e-mail the field divisions and ask them to check their sources to find if they're aware of any connection between al-Qaeda or any terrorist groups and the Iraqi government.'"

Cole, who worked out of FBI headquarters, says the bureau-wide search did not turn up any substantive links.

"We had some very good sources, and I sent the communication out, and they all came back negative – nothing that they were aware of," he says. "Some of them said al-Qaeda doesn't even get along with the Iraq regime because they're not fundamentalist enough, and there were other reasons why they didn't associate with each other."

[Laura PourMeADrink]

3. What angers me so, is how the administration relies on the

short attention span and ignorance of most people. They are very diabolical and smart too. By B** stating "the intelligence was bad" and by others repeating it over and over it shifts the blame.

That the intelligence was bad IS NOT THE MAIN POINT. The main point is that they didn't give a flying f%#$ whether it was or not. They ignored other intelligence.

It so infinitely crystal clear to us. If we only had an honest media. Where the hell is the outrage?????

[Seabiscuit]

4. The outrage is right here on DU.

Sadly, it's still not evident in the MSM.