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A Daily Chronicle of Bush Administration Distortion June 22, 2004

     

Latest Iraq-al Qaeda "Evidence" Proves False



Just days after the bipartisan 9/11 Commission acknowledged that there was "no credible evidence"1 to support the White House's pre-war assertions of an Iraq-al Qaeda connection,2 the Bush administration is now putting out "new evidence" that supposedly proves the claim. But as reported by newspapers around the country, senior U.S. intelligence officials say this "evidence" is false.

Days after Vice President Dick Cheney claimed he "probably"3 had more evidence than the 9/11 Commission to prove an Iraq-al Qaeda connection, Republican commissioner John Lehman said he was given "new intelligence"4 showing that "at least one officer of Saddam's Fedayeen, a lieutenant colonel, was a very prominent member of al Qaeda."5 But according to U.S. officials, intelligence experts are "highly skeptical that the Iraqi officer had any connection to al-Qaida."6 Newsday noted that the CIA concluded "a long time ago" that the individual in question "was not an officer in Saddam Hussein's army."7

President Bush and Vice President Cheney have both continued to insist on an Iraq-al Qaeda connection, despite "senior U.S. officials now saying there never was any evidence that Saddam's secular police state and Osama bin Laden's Islamic terrorism network were in league."8 Members of the 9/11 Commission are formally calling on Cheney to provide any shred of proof9 to support his assertion last week that "the evidence is overwhelming"10 that the Iraqi government had a relationship with al Qaeda.

Sources:
  1. "9-11 panel finds 'no credible evidence' of link between al-Qaida and Iraq", The Seattle Times, 6/17/2004.
  2. Presidential Remarks, WhiteHouse.gov, 9/17/2003.
  3. "Al Qaeda Link To Iraq May Be Confusion Over Names", Washington Post, 6/22/2004.
  4. "Al-Qaida, Fedayeen militia tie disputed", AZCentral.com, 6/22/2004.
  5. "Iraqi officer tied to al Qaeda", Reuters UK, 6/20/2004.
  6. "Intelligence experts cast doubt on ties between Iraq, al-Qaida", Knight Ridder, 6/21/2004.
  7. "CIA: No Iraqi officer link in al-Qaida meeting", Newsday, 6/22/2004.
  8. "Doubts Cast on Efforts to Link Saddam, al-Qaida", Common Dreams News Center, 3/03/2004.
  9. "Sept. 11 Panel Asks Cheney for Saddam-Al Qaeda Evidence", NPR: All Things Considered, 6/20/2004.
  10. "Al-Qaida, Fedayeen militia tie disputed", AZCentral.com, 6/22/2004.



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