Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein rejected pleas for assistance from Osama bin Laden and tried to capture terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi when he was in Iraq, a Senate Intelligence Committee report released Friday found, casting further doubt on the Bush administration's rationale for invading Iraq.
President Bush and other administration officials repeatedly cited Saddam's alleged ties to radical Islamic terrorists before the March 2003 invasion as one reason to take military action against Iraq.
The 150-page report said the administration's claims were untrue. "Postwar findings indicate that Saddam Hussein was distrustful of al-Qaida and viewed Islamic extremists as a threat to his regime, refusing all requests from al-Qaida to provide material or operational support," the report said.
The report was released along with a second one that said false information from the exile group Iraqi National Congress, led by Ahmad Chalabi, was widely distributed in prewar intelligence reports and used to support intelligence assessments about Iraq's weapons and links to terrorism. Intelligence officials repeatedly warned that the INC was unreliable, but White House and Pentagon officials ignored the warnings.
The reports are part of a five-report study that the Senate Intelligence Committee has undertaken into the Bush administration's use of intelligence before the invasion of Iraq.
The above is from Warren P. Strobel and Margaret Talev's "Senate reports say Saddam rejected cooperating with terrorists" (McClatchy Newspapers) and it's sad but necessary to note this since the press won't as they rush to eagerly repeat Dick Cheney's lie of a link between Iraq and 9-11. Here's (some of) what Reuters is reporting today:
BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier was killed and two others were wounded when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle in eastern Baghdad on Thursday, the U.S. military said. One of the wounded soldiers later returned to duty, the military said.
TIKRIT - One U.S. soldier was killed and nine were wounded by an explosion on Thursday during combat operations in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
DIWANIYA - A U.S. soldier was killed on Thursday when his patrol came under small-arms fire in Diwaniya, 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier was killed by small-arms fire on Thursday in southern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
Four deaths announced on the morning the mainstream press decides it's more important to prove how well they can take dictation than it is to call out Dick Cheney for (yet again) lying about a 'link' between 9-11 and Iraq. The lies been called out. Possibly even Murdoch print outlets have called it out, but mainstream outlets have called it out . . . when it's not being made. When it's being made, they just repeat it. Now it a day or two there may be 'strong' editorials or columns but today they allow a known lie to be presented in their reporting and not be called out. And you better believe they'll dummy up when a poll shows X number of Americans still believe the false link. You better believe some press types will say, "That's been disproven!" Yeah and it's been repeated since and not called out. Just like what happened today.
Let's drop back to Alissa J. Rubin (with help from Burnsie) to note this nonsense:
He cited the comments of Gen. David H. Petraeus, the American commander in Iraq, who was traveling with him. "General Petraeus has underscored the fact that the enemy tactics are barbaric," Mr. Cheney said, according to a report by The Associated Press, which had a reporter at the base. "We can expect more violence as they try to destroy the hopes of the Iraqi people," he said, still quoting General Petraeus.
6 Iraqi school children killed by fire from an attack helicopter (US) on Tuesday. When's the Times going to address that? No, covering the statement sent out by the miltiary ("It's only two!") isn't covering it.
Let's go to the Betty Grable of the Times to note this:
For instance, he said he had learned within hours of the episode that women and children had been killed, and acknowledged that his own rules required investigation when a "significant" number of civilians died in actions involving marines. But later he said he saw no reason to look into how a "big" number of civilians had died in Haditha.
[. . .]
"In my way of thinking as the commander, at that point in our time in Iraq, 15 people killed as a result of an attack, in a built-up area that involved I.E.D.'s and a coordinated attack, I still think that probably my reaction was, 'That's too bad, but they got caught somehow,' " General Johnson told investigators in a sworn statement obtained by The New York Times from someone familiar with the case.
"Our thought process would have been that, 'Hey, if the enemy hadn't done it, those people wouldn’t have got killed.' "
Of course, 'the enemy' didn't slaughter 24 Iraqis. But note the attitude expressed "too bad." (It's Paul von Zielbauer's "Marine Says His Staff Misled Him on Killings," for anyone who needs a title.)
"Iraqis are rather hostile and feel humiliated. And that's the key thing that maybe some of our policymakers don't understand. The presence of the U.S. soldiers is very humiliating to the Iraqis. Even those who, in their minds know that it's necessary to have the soldiers there, at least some kind of force there preventing an all-out civil war from getting even worse...I don't think they appreciate American culture."
Markus notes the above. It's from Joe Strupp's "Former 'LA Times' Baghdad Chief Says Iraqis Are 'Humiliated'" (Editor & Publisher) -- Borzou Daragahi speaking to Brian Lamb in an interview C-Span will air Sunday night.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. That's it for this morning, I'm not in the mood for all the lies being printed this morning.
the new york times
alissa j. rubin
paul von zielbauer
borzou daragahi
