le sigh Options

[pebkac]

http://www.krqe.com/expanded.asp?ID=17039

Senate finds no Saddam-al-Qaida link
Source: AP

CAPITOL HILL -- Two years in the making, a report on pre-Iraq war intelligence finds no evidence that Saddam Hussein had any relations with al-Qaida leaders in his country.

President Bush and others at the White House have said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's presence in Iraq was evidence of a link between Saddam's government and al-Qaida.

But the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee report reveals for the first time what the CIA said about that last year.

The spy agency concluded that before the war, Saddam's government had no relationship with al-Zarqawi and found no proof Saddam either harbored or turned a blind eye toward Zarqawi.

Committee member Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, accuses the administration of deception in trying to link Saddam to al-Qaida. But a White House spokesman says from what they've seen, the report is "nothing new."

Ok... so Congress is just now figuring this out?

This is what pisses me off about Congress in general (especially the Democrats). Ok, so we accept that the war was a bad thing. So why didn't Congress do something about it before the war even started instead of investigating the issue five years later?

[pebkac]

The war didn't start over whether or not there was any Saddam-al-Qaida link. It started over intelligence reports that Saddam was developing weapons he wasn't supposed to, and because he wouldn't allow weapons inspectors in according to the agreement he was bound by. It amazes me to this day that people can't figure this shit out.

1. Agreement saying you have to allow weapons inspectors
2. Intelligence that you're developing weapons
3. Don't allow weapons inspectors
4. Get your ass kicked

pretty simple if you ask me.

No, sorry. You're wrong.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/15/bush.alqaeda/

President Bush repeated his administration's claim that Iraq was in league with al Qaeda under Saddam Hussein's rule, saying Tuesday that fugitive Islamic militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ties Saddam to the terrorist network.

"Zarqawi's the best evidence of a connection to al Qaeda affiliates and al Qaeda," Bush told reporters at the White House. "He's the person who's still killing."

"We did the absolute right thing in removing him from power, and the world is better off with him not in power," he said.

Bush has tried to portray the war in Iraq as the "central front" in the war on terrorism that began with al Qaeda's September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

Yes, the fact that Bush claimed that there was a Hussein-Al Qaeda link was a contributing cause for the war.