www.weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=4807&R=A03E...
This week both John Kerry and his senior advisor, Susan Rice, have argued that the Bush administration was wrong about Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi. he was not a danger before the war; his contacts with Saddam's Iraq non-existent; and his relationship to al Qaeda only now cemented.
Their comments appear to be based on a single Washington Post (October5, 2004) story concerning a leaked CIA reassessmant of Saddam's ties to Zarqawi. According to that news account, "A U.S. official familiar with the CIA asessmant said intelligence analysts are unable to determine conclusively the nature of the relationship, "What is indisputable is that Zarqawi was operating out of Baghdad and was involved in alot of bad activities."
Moreover, Zarqawi's activities were hardly benign prior to the Iraq war. As the State Departmen's 2003 report on "Patterns of Global Terrorism" points out:
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This week both John Kerry and his senior advisor, Susan Rice, have argued that the Bush administration was wrong about Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi. he was not a danger before the war; his contacts with Saddam's Iraq non-existent; and his relationship to al Qaeda only now cemented.
Their comments appear to be based on a single Washington Post (October5, 2004) story concerning a leaked CIA reassessmant of Saddam's ties to Zarqawi. According to that news account, "A U.S. official familiar with the CIA asessmant said intelligence analysts are unable to determine conclusively the nature of the relationship, "What is indisputable is that Zarqawi was operating out of Baghdad and was involved in alot of bad activities."
Moreover, Zarqawi's activities were hardly benign prior to the Iraq war. As the State Departmen's 2003 report on "Patterns of Global Terrorism" points out:
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