Saddam, Osama, and Brokaw

[Annie]

http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/004176.html

June 30, 2004
Iraq & al Qaeda Linked? 9/11 Commission Says Yes



The media recently hyped a report from the staff of the 9/11 Commission that said there were no links between Iraq and the 9/11 attack, and the media wrongly claimed the Commission staff had said there were no links between Saddam's regime and al Qaeda, period. Perhaps they should have more carefully read Staff Statement #15, Overview of the Enemy, especially this brief section from page 3:

With al Qaeda as its foundation, Bin Ladin sought to build a broader Islamic army that also included terrorist groups from Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Oman, Tunisia, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Somalia and Eritrea. Not all groups from these states agreed to join, but at least one from each did. With a multinational council intended to promote common gooals, coordinate targeting and authorize asset sharing for terrorist operations, this Islamic force represented a new level of collaboration among diverse terrorist groups.
The prospect of future coordination, asset-sharing and collaboration between al Qaeda and a weapons-of-mass-destruction-producing/Islamist terrorism-supporting/America-hating Saddam Hussein resulting in an attack on America more horrifying and deadly than 9/11 was the underlying reason - the "grave and gathering danger" - that President Bush stressed as the reason we must remove Saddam from power.

He was right. And 9/11 Commission Staff Statement #15 makes that very clear.

MORE: NBC's Tom Brokaw should have read Staff Statement #15 before he interviewed Iraq's new interim prime minister.

Posted by Bill in War on Terror

Statement 15: http://www.9-11commission.gov/hearings/hearing12/staff_statement_15.pdf