SwiftVets.com

[JimRobson]

Bad timing? Coincidence??? Something Stinks

Addendum: I just figured it out. This statement will force the MSM to cover the new documents story. They are in a bind now. They won't be able to resist the opportuntiy to tell Rumsfeld he is wrong. This Bush outfit is the best there is at high stakes poker!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041005/wl_afp/us_iraq_rumsfeld_qaeda_041005031621

Rumsfeld says no 'strong, hard evidence' of Saddam-Qaeda connection

Mon Oct 4,11:16 PM ET World - AFP

NEW YORK (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he has seen no "strong, hard evidence" linking former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) with Al-Qaeda, backing away from his pre-war assertions that contacts between the two went back over a decade.

"I have seen the answer to that question migrate in the intelligence community over a period of a year in the most amazing way," he told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations after being asked what Saddam's connection to Al-Qaeda was.

Rumsfeld said there were differences in the intelligence community as to what the relationship was.

"To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two," he said.

The nexus between terrorism and the Iraqi regime was a key point in the US effort to persuade the world that Saddam Hussein had to be dealt with after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

In September 2002, Rumsfeld said the United States had "credible" information that Al-Qaeda and Iraq (news - web sites) had discussed safe havens and non-aggression agreements, and that Al-Qaeda leaders have sought contacts in Iraq who could help them acquire weapons of mass destruction.

In his comments Monday, Rumsfeld said he had relied on the Central Intelligence Agency (news - web sites) for his information in the past, and appeared to blame the intelligence reporting for the way the relationship between Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein was portrayed.

"I just read an intelligence report recently about one person who's connected to Al-Qaeda who was in and out of Iraq. And it is the most tortured description of why he might have had a relationship and why he might not have had a relationship," he said.

"There are reports about people in Saddam Hussein's intelligence service meeting in one country or another with Al-Qaeda people for one person or another, which may have been indicative of something or may not have been," he said.

"It may have been something that was not representative of a hard linkage," he said.

Rumsfeld added, however, that Saddam and his regime were "not Little Sisters of the Poor." Iraq was on the State Department's terrorist list and made payments for Palestinian suicide bombings, he said.

"The relationships between these folks are complicated. They evolve and change over time. In many cases, these different networks have common funders.

"In many cases, they cooperate not in a chain of command, but in a loose affiliation, a franchising arrangement, almost, where they go do different things and cooperate," he said.

He said most of Al-Qaeda's senior leaders had sworn an oath to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites).

"And to my knowledge, even as of this late date, I don't believe (Abu Mussab al-) Zarqawi, the principal leader of the network in Iraq, has sworn an oath, even though ... they're just two peas in a pod in terms of what they're doing," he said.

Zarqawi's reported presence in Baghdad before the war has been cited in the past by the US administration as evidence of a link between Saddam and Al-Qaeda.

In his comments two years ago, Rumsfeld said the presence of senior Al-Qaeda leaders in Baghdad was backed by "solid evidence," and there was reliable reporting of contacts over the previous decade that had grown in frequence after 1998.
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ETN2 PTF2 (Littlecreek Underwater Demolition Unit 2 1963)

http://www.thewebplace.com/

[dmackto]

Someone run over to kikos and fax him the new documents article.
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Deborah
The FROZEN CHICKEN Journal

This is no time for ease and comfort. It is the time to dare and endure.
- Winston Churchill

[Rdtf]

Is it really possible that the Bush Admin is clueless to these docs? That someone tried to get them in front of the right eyes and got frustrated and then went to the media? Frustrating and embarrassing, if so.

[Chuck Z Ombie AC2000]

no coincedence, Rove is a mastermind
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John Kerry, R.I.P. (Rot In Paris)

[margie]

I don't follow the reasoning that this is good news. If the MSM dig and find it, with Rummy saying there is nothing, it makes him look dumb and out of the loop. If his statement doesn't "tease" them to check it out...it lays dorment.[/quote]

[Chuck Z Ombie AC2000]

Nope, if these documents turn out to be the link between Iraq, islamic terrorism and WMD Bush can say he didnt know about them until now. If they turn out to be false, Bush team can say they already stated there is no link.
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John Kerry, R.I.P. (Rot In Paris)

[fr11]

Rumsfeld says he was "misunderstood".
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200410\NAT20041005a.html

[RogerRabbit]

[Chuck Z Ombie AC2000]

They really need to keep Rumsfeld away from the press. After the election i think its time to put old rummy out to stud.
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John Kerry, R.I.P. (Rot In Paris)

[JimRobson]

Chuck Z Ombie AC2000, I'll go with your original take on this. None of it is accidental. Our guys know what they are doing.
_________________
ETN2 PTF2 (Littlecreek Underwater Demolition Unit 2 1963)

http://www.thewebplace.com/

[sdonions]

Going back to the analogy of poker, This is what they call a check raise. Now the MSM either needs to call, raise or throw em away. With the Memogate just a few weeks away, I think the MSM will try to repute the docs as false. Talk about a brillant suck in