Clinton first linked al Qaeda to Saddam?

Clinton first linked al Qaeda to Saddam








By Rowan Scarborough


THE WASHINGTON TIMES





The Clinton administration talked about firm evidence linking Saddam Hussein's regime to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network years before President Bush made the same statements.


The issue arose again this month after the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States reported there was no "collaborative relationship" between the old Iraqi regime and bin Laden.





Democrats have cited the staff report to accuse Mr. Bush of making inaccurate statements about a linkage. Commission members, including a Democrat and two Republicans, quickly came to the administration's defense by saying there had been such contacts.


In fact, during President Clinton's eight years in office, there were at least two official pronouncements of an alarming alliance between Baghdad and al Qaeda. One came from William S. Cohen, Mr. Clinton's defense secretary. He cited an al Qaeda-Baghdad link to justify the bombing of a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan.


Mr. Bush cited the linkage, in part, to justify invading Iraq and ousting Saddam. He said he could not take the risk of Iraq's weapons falling into bin Laden's hands.


The other pronouncement is contained in a Justice Department indictment on Nov. 4, 1998, charging bin Laden with murder in the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.


The indictment disclosed a close relationship between al Qaeda and Saddam's regime, which included specialists on chemical weapons and all types of bombs, including truck bombs, a favorite weapon of terrorists.


The 1998 indictment said: "Al Qaeda also forged alliances with the National Islamic Front in the Sudan and with the government of Iran and its associated terrorist group Hezbollah 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."


Shortly after the embassy bombings, Mr. Clinton ordered air strikes on al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and on the Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Sudan.


To justify the Sudanese plant as a target, Clinton aides said it was involved in the production of deadly VX nerve gas. Officials further determined that bin Laden owned a stake in the operation and that its manager had traveled to Baghdad to learn bomb-making techniques from Saddam's weapons scientists.


Mr. Cohen elaborated in March in testimony before the September 11 commission.


He testified that "bin Laden had been living [at the plant], that he had, in fact, money that he had put into this military industrial corporation, that the owner of the plant had traveled to Baghdad to meet with the father of the VX program."


He said that if the plant had been allowed to produce VX that was used to kill thousands of Americans, people would have asked him, " 'You had a manager that went to Baghdad; you had Osama bin Laden, who had funded, at least the corporation, and you had traces of [VX precursor] and you did what? And you did nothing?' Is that a responsible activity on the part of the secretary of defense?"

Clinton first linked al Qaeda to Saddam?
What is wrong with you? Don't you understand that Liberals have NO deductive reasoning whatsoever and don't care anyway?


They are NOT to be confused with facts, all they know is "Bush lied, kids died."


They don't care whether it is the truth or not, they only care that people believe their big lies. Wasn't it Goebbels who said that if you tell a big lie enough times that people will believe it? Doesn't really matter who said it, it is the truth.
Reply:Are you cons ever going to stop blaming Clinton for ever damn mistake Bush makes. Get used to it! your boy has been and will be and always was.. a total failure. Grow up and start seeing reality.
Reply:Stop blaming Clinton and take some responsibility for your parties failed policy and bad decision making
Reply:theres more of a link between alquada and the cia than to anyone i think ... we were in documented contact and used alquada operatives up until at least the war in bosnia ....
Reply:Great article. He's a liar and Bush was silly enough to take the words of a liar and go to war. Clinton was a liar JUST LIKE most politicians.





Bush had enough sense not to go under oath. If he had, we would have had another impeached president in less than 10 years. Any nitwit should have had the sense to know there was no real threat from Hussein and it was just an excuse to get a very large number of people KILLED.





Since Clinton was a liar, wouldn't most intelligent people do their own extensive research to determine what was really going on? Only a moron would take the information from a known liar and implement a plan to go to war.





The absolute mess we are in right now does not lay at the feet of Clinton. The people that hold the executive branch and the people that followed them blindly on both sides of the isle are to blame.
Reply:The truth doesn't matter.As I have said before,when confronted with evidence contrary to their belief,the left just cover their ears and scream"Bush lied,Bush lied".It's what children who no longer have the luxury of being spoiled by a media speaking in one voice do.They cannot handle debate.
Reply:That was a bit long brother, but still true, if anyone takes the time to read it all...
Reply:Is this supposed to get the Bush Administration off the hook?





It's a lot more serious when the bad information is being used to make a case for WAR.