Dick Cheney's revisionist history, chapter 39

[Dionysos]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/200...politico/23228

Andy Barr Andy Barr – Tue Jun 2, 12:13 pm ET
Former Vice President Dick Cheney says there was “never any evidence” that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq played any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

“On the question of whether or not Iraq was involved in 9/11, there was never any evidence to prove that,” Cheney said during an interview Monday night with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren.

“There was some reporting early on, for example, that Mohammed Atta had met with a senior Iraqi intelligence official,” Cheney said. “But that was never borne out.”

In a 2003 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Cheney said that “the Czechs alleged that Mohamed Atta, the lead attacker, met in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official five months before the attack.”

But Cheney added, “We’ve never been able to develop any more of that yet, either in terms of confirming it or discrediting it. We just don’t know.”
Cheney said Monday that former CIA Director George Tenet brought to the Bush White House information pertaining to potential links between the hijacker and Iraq as “it became available.” But Cheney pointed out that Tenet “did say and did testify that there was an ongoing relationship between al Qaeda and Iraq, but no proof that Iraq was involved in 9/11.”
The former vice president explained away the early uncertainty of the connection by insisting that intelligence gathering is “more an art form than a science,” pointing to several examples of past CIA failures.

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“They misread Saddam Hussein's intent when he invaded Kuwait in 1990,” Cheney said. “They underestimated the extent of the Iraqi program to try to acquire nuclear capability back in '90 and '91. They missed 9/11.”
Cheney did not list the never-found Iraqi weapons of mass destruction as an intelligence failure, saying only that the CIA and the broader intelligence community have done a “magnificent job as part of the effort to keep the United States safe these last seven and a half years.”

“The intelligence community has had some enormous successes in the last few years,” he said. “You usually don't hear about the successes. What you hear about are the train wrecks, the things that didn't work out quite right.”

[zerojunkie]

Ok, I'll strap the asbestos suit on and ask. What's been revised?

[Dionysos]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/...iraq.al.qaeda/
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/ar...11_challenged/
http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001366/

[Dionysos]

Or how about this, from the obviously liberal 'Free Republic':
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/982713/posts

Posted on Monday, September 15, 2003 8:42:16 AM by kattracks
After telling a national radio audience last week that there was no connection between the World Trade Center attacks and Saddam Hussein, "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert got an earful on Sunday from Vice President Dick Cheney, who outlined a mountain of evidence tying Iraq to the 9/11 catastrophe.
Recalling that he had told Russert two years ago that he knew of no Iraqi link to the attack, Cheney said Sunday, "Subsequent to that, we've learned a couple of things."
The Vice President contended that more recent evidence indicates "that there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda that stretched back through most of the decade of the '90s, that it involved training, for example."
Though he did not specifically mention the South Baghdad terrorist training camp Salman Pak, where radical Islamists rehearsed 9/11-style hijackings on a Soviet-era Tupelov 154 airliner, Cheney noted that "al-Qaeda sent personnel to Baghdad to get trained on the systems that are involved."
Cheney also cited reports of a meeting between lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta and an Iraqi in intelligence agent in Prague just months before the attacks, saying that U.S. intelligence has not yet been able confirm or discredit the information.
In perhaps his most startling remarks, the vice president became the first White House official to argue that there was a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda's attempt to destroy the World Trade Center in 1993, telling Russert:
"We know, for example, in connection with the original World Trade Center bombing in '93 that one of the bombers was Iraqi, returned to Iraq after the attack of '93. And we've learned subsequent to that, since we went into Baghdad and got into the intelligence files, that this individual probably also received financing from the Iraqi government as well as safe haven."
The vice president might have also mentioned that Ramzi Yousef, who masterminded the 1993 attack and whose laptop computer contained plans to crash U.S. airliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, entered the U.S. with an Iraqi passport.
After his capture in 1995, the FBI flew Yousef over the World Trade Center and reminded him that his plan to destroy the Twin Towers had not succeeded. His reported response - "Not yet."
Last Wednesday Russert insisted to radio host Don Imus, "No one will say there was a direct involvement of Saddam Hussein in Sept. 11. ... There's no direct link that can be substantiated." The full exchange between Russert and Vice President Cheney on the evidence tying Iraq to 9/11 went like this:
RUSSERT: The Washington Post asked the American people about Saddam Hussein, and this is what they said: 69 percent said he was involved in the September 11 attacks. Are you surprised by that?
CHENEY: No. I think it's not surprising that people make that connection.
RUSSERT: But is there a connection?
CHENEY: We don't know. You and I talked about this two years ago. I can remember you asking me this question just a few days after the original attack. At the time I said no, we didn't have any evidence of that. Subsequent to that, we've learned a couple of things. We learned more and more that there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda that stretched back through most of the decade of the '90s, that it involved training, for example, on BW and CW, that al-Qaeda sent personnel to Baghdad to get trained on the systems that are involved. The Iraqis providing bomb-making expertise and advice to the al-Qaeda organization.
We know, for example, in connection with the original World Trade Center bombing in '93 that one of the bombers was Iraqi, returned to Iraq after the attack of '93. And we've learned subsequent to that, since we went into Baghdad and got into the intelligence files, that this individual probably also received financing from the Iraqi government as well as safe haven.
Now, is there a connection between the Iraqi government and the original World Trade Center bombing in '93? We know, as I say, that one of the perpetrators of that act did, in fact, receive support from the Iraqi government after the fact. With respect to 9/11, of course, we've had the story that's been public out there. The Czechs alleged that Mohamed Atta, the lead attacker, met in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official five months before the attack, but we've never been able to develop anymore of that yet either in terms of confirming it or discrediting it. We just don't know. [End of Excerpt]

[PETA]

Originally Posted by zerojunkie

Ok, I'll strap the asbestos suit on and ask. What's been revised?

lol - I was wondering too

apparently you were too eager and didn't let Jonny finish

anyway... looks like a tenuous claim dependant upon whatever there current state of the intelligence was and the date of the interview. Cheney most recently noted the most recent and best understanding of the facts. That's not revisionism, that's trying to be intellectually honest.

Takes suit from Zero.

[name change request]

it was fairly obvious... since the whole Bush camp was tying Saddam to 9/11 before the war. now afterwards they are all oops! we fucked up but it's still a good idea that we ousted him.

bunch of fucknuts, that whole lot

intellectually honest? how about backpedalling like a motherfucker

[Sinner]

I thought bush was the one the made 9-11 happen??

[Damnsammit]

Originally Posted by NoKegger4U

I thought bush was the one the made 9-11 happen??

Come on now. He's not smart enough to plan that shit.

It was definitely Colon Pow.

[zerojunkie]

It seems they've been pretty careful to preface any claims that Saddam was involved with 9/11 specifically, as allegations. What I see a lot of people doing is confusing the more substantiated claim that Saddam and AQ were linked through Sudan, etc. with the claim that Saddam was involved with 9/11. Just saying, they seem to make the differentiation every time I've heard them.

[PETA]

Originally Posted by zerojunkie

It seems they've been pretty careful to preface any claims that Saddam was involved with 9/11 specifically, as allegations. What I see a lot of people doing is confusing the more substantiated claim that Saddam and AQ were linked through Sudan, etc. with the claim that Saddam was involved with 9/11. Just saying, they seem to make the differentiation every time I've heard them.

^^^


The left have used the claim forever though when askewd to back it up we get nothing but vitriol, Halliburton, Bush lied etc etc. The left have relied on ths assertion for so long that it no longer requires substantiation for them. It is simply true to them.

[-m-]

Originally Posted by zerojunkie

It seems they've been pretty careful to preface any claims that Saddam was involved with 9/11 specifically, as allegations. What I see a lot of people doing is confusing the more substantiated claim that Saddam and AQ were linked through Sudan, etc. with the claim that Saddam was involved with 9/11. Just saying, they seem to make the differentiation every time I've heard them.

I don't think Cheney or anyone else who has made that statement has been clear enough in making that distinction though. I saw a lot of sense in Cheney's speech, oddly enough, but even from closely listening I got the initial impression that he was still connecting 9/11 to Saddam. I would respect them even more if they just admitted that after the attacks and six years of Saddam taunting the UN investigators they made a call, and it was a blunder.

[Sinner]

why am I suddently seeing ol'swingin' Dick Cheney all over the place lately?

is he preparing to run for prez in 3 1/2 yarz?

[-m-]

Originally Posted by NoKegger4U

why am I suddently seeing ol'swingin' Dick Cheney all over the place lately?

is he preparing to run for prez in 3 1/2 yarz?

From what I understand Obama's making some pretty serious allegations about the former administration and is even trying to criminalize their role in the "torture". I think I'd be making a few retorts in his situation as well.

[Sinner]

Originally Posted by -m-

From what I understand Obama's making some pretty serious allegations about the former administration and is even trying to criminalize their role in the "torture". I think I'd be making a few retorts in his situation as well.

see the gay marriage post in the other thread?

[-m-]

No, didn't catch it.