SubscribeSimilarly, Pakistan did not break with the Taliban until after 9/11, although it was well aware that the Taliban was harboring Bin Ladin. The Taliban’s ability to provide Bin Ladin a haven in the face of international pressure and UN sanctions was significantly facilitated by Pakistani support. Pakistan benefited from the Taliban-al Qaeda relationship, as Bin Ladin’s camps trained and equipped fighters for Pakistan’s ongoing struggle with India over Kashmir.Meanwhile, President George W Bush has upgraded relations with Pakistan by formally naming it as a major non-Nato ally.
But in what our correspondent says is a strange irony of timing, the president's announcement coincided with a report from the commission investigating the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre.
It accused Islamabad of helping the Taleban to shelter Osama Bin Laden, saying that it had "significantly facilitated" his stay in Afghanistan prior to the attack.
But Pakistan later became a key US ally, dropping its support for the Taleban and allowing US troops to use its air bases and share intelligence.
A 9/11 commission staff report is being cited to argue that the administration was wrong about there being suspicious ties and contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda. In fact, just the opposite is true. The staff report documents such links.so fenriq, do you know when to give up and admit that you were wrong? Or are you going to dig in your heels and proclaim that statements by the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the 9/11 commission aren't good enough for that other just under half of the population?
The staff report concludes that:
• Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden "explored possible cooperation with Iraq during his time in Sudan."
• "A senior Iraqi intelligence officer reportedly made three visits to Sudan, finally meeting bin Laden in 1994."
• "Contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda also occurred after bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan."
Chairman Thomas Kean has confirmed: "There were contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda, a number of them, some of them a little shadowy. They were definitely there."
Following news stories, Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton said he did not understand the media flap over this issue and that the commission does not disagree with the administration's assertion that there were connections between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's government.
President Bush and members of his administration have said all along that there were contacts and that those contacts raised troubling questions.
The United States also claims it had other evidence linking the plant with chemical weapons production. That evidence includes links between officials at the facility in Sudan and an Iraqi official who has been labeled by U.S. intelligence as "the father of Iraq's chemical weapons program." The Iraqi, identified as Emad Al Ani, is said to have had extensive dealings with officials at the plant in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. That and the connection between terrorism sponsor Osama bin Laden and Sudan's "military industrial complex" were enough to convince the United States that the Shifa plant was involved in chemical weapons production, the official said.So, what's the reasoning here, Clinton lied in 1998 to garner pre-war-support for a war that was still five years away? Wow, that's some serious far-reaching global planning in action.
Al Qaeda also forged alliances with the National Islamic Front in the Sudan and with the government of Iran and its associated terrorist group Hezballah for the purpose of working together against their perceived common enemies in the West, particularly the United States. In addition, al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq.More of Clinton's far-reaching conspiracy plans, or, quite a bit more than No I'm not helping you guys now leave me alone"
I have also determined that the use of armed force against Iraq is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.George W. Bush, Letter to Congress, March 23, 2003.
This administration never said that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al Qaeda.George W. Bush, June 17, 2004
In a way, the US brought the fight to them, instead of waiting for more attacks and reprisals.
In March 2003, if I had told you what was going to happen in Iraq, and asked you for an alternative plan for fighting terrorism, what would you have said?
What are your criteria for success in going after Al Qaeda in Afghanistan? Why do you say it was half-ass?
The Bush administration has concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the battle for Tora Bora late last year and that failure to commit U.S. ground troops to hunt him was its gravest error in the war against al Qaeda, according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge.U.S. Concludes Bin Laden Escaped at Tora Bora Fight:
Taliban fighters, paid and trained by al Qaeda, are pouring into Afghanistan from Pakistan, the top American commander in Afghanistan said Sunday.Taliban Pouring Into Afghanistan, CBS News, September 7, 2003.
How can you stop [North Korea]? Invade them?
Where do you propose we start? Saudi Arabia?
President Bush refused on Tuesday to release a congressional report alleging possible links between Saudi Arabian officials and the Sept. 11 hijackers...Sources tell CBS the redacted section lays out a money trail between Saudi Arabia and supporters of al Qaeda.Bush Won't Reveal Saudi 9/11 Info, CBS News, July 30, 2003.
As part of the offensive against terror, we are also confronting the regimes that harbor and support terrorists, and could supply them with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.Iraq didn't "harbor and support terrorists" (except for Abu Musab Zarqawi, who Bush passed on attacking three times, and didn't have weapons to supply anyone with.
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posted by interrobang at 11:41 PM on June 17, 2004