Senate Report: No Pre-War Link Between Hussein and al Qaeda

News:

Not that it will make any difference to neoconservative dead-enders, but a keenly anticipated Senate report released this afternoon confirms that there was no pre-war intelligence to suggest a relationship between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s government. That comes as part of two chapters of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s analysis of pre-war intelligence being released today, the rest of which will be delayed until well after the midterm elections. Today’s release includes a declassified October 2005 CIA assessment that Hussein’s government “did not have a relationship, harbor, or turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi and his associates”, contradicting the Bush administration’s claims that Zarqawi’s presence ahead of the invasion was proof of an Iraq-al Qaeda link. White House spokesman Tony Snow quickly dismissed the report as “nothing new”. The full report—assuming the GOP ever allows it to see the light of day—contrasts the White House’s pre-war statements made in public with the intelligence it viewed in private.

Ah, sorry Froggy ...

you are wrong on this one. The war on terror began in Afghanistan and was meant to eradicate both bin Laden AND Al Qaeda. At that point it wasn't even called the "War on Terror". It wasn't until AFTER we "cut and ran" in Afghanistan and invaded Iraq that terrorists began pouring into the country from Pakistan and Afghanistan. It wasn't renamed the "War on Terror" until we went into Iraq. And, as we now well know, Iraq had no concrete ties to terrorism prior to 9/11.

Seems to me we should have "stayed the course" in Afghanistan instead of "cutting and running" to Iraq.

By Pookie2112September 8, 2006 - 2:48pm