Saturday, September 09, 2006

Bush Lied, People Died, Part Three Thousand And God Knows How Many

The publication of this report will undoubtedly lead to an increase in the number of Americans who believe the Administration lies of a Saddam-Al Queda ties:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 -- The Central Intelligence Agency last fall repudiated the claim that there were prewar ties between Saddam Hussein's government and an operative of Al Qaeda, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, according to a report issued Friday by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The disclosure undercuts continuing assertions by the Bush administration that such ties existed, and that they provided evidence of links between Iraq and Al Qaeda. The Republican-controlled committee, in a second report, also sharply criticized the administration for its reliance on the Iraqi National Congress during the prelude to the war in Iraq.

...

The panel concluded that Mr. Hussein regarded Al Qaeda as a threat rather than a potential ally, and that the Iraqi intelligence service "actively attempted to locate and capture al-Zarqawi without success."

The Republican-controlled report focused on the CIA -- Cover Idiotboy's Ass:

The reports did not address the politically divisive question of whether the Bush administration had exaggerated or misused intelligence as part of its effort to win support for the war. But one report did contradict the administration's assertions, made before the war and since, that ties between Mr. Zarqawi and Mr. Hussein's government provided evidence of a close relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda.

I'd say not so much politically divisive as easily answered by an 8 year old.

As recently as Aug. 21, President Bush said at a news conference that Mr. Hussein "had relations with Zarqawi." But a C.I.A. report completed in October 2005 concluded instead that Mr. Hussein’s government "did not have a relationship, harbor or even turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi and his associates," according to the new Senate findings.

On the other hand, Rummy did have relations with that dictator, Mr. Hussein.

A set of conclusions that included criticism of the administration's ties with the Iraqi National Congress was opposed by several Republicans on the panel, including Mr. Roberts, but was approved with the support of two Republicans, Chuck Hagel, of Nebraska, and Olympia Snowe, of Maine, along with all seven Democrats. Senator Roberts even took the unusual step of disavowing the conclusions about the role played by the Iraqi National Congress, saying that they were "misleading and are not supported by the facts."

Super. Now can we get someone to look into the ties between the New York Times and the Iraqi National Congress?

Just asking.

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