Donald Rumsfeld says no hard evidence links Saddam to al-Qaida

ArthurDent

OK, so no WMD and no link between Iraq and Al-Qaida, so what's left for the justification of the war in Iraq?
Has the UN any sanctions available now that the two reasons for Bush's need to by-pass the UN en route to Iraq are gone?

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/279/nation/Donald_Rumsfeld_says_no_hard_e:.shtml


Donald Rumsfeld says no hard evidence links Saddam to al-Qaida, then
By Richard Pyle, Associated Press, 10/5/2004 07:31

NEW YORK (AP) Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in a speech that he knew of no clear link between the al-Qaida terror network and Saddam Hussein, although he later backed off the statement and said he was misunderstood.

Asked to describe the connection between the Iraqi leader and the al-Qaida terror network at an appearance Monday at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Pentagon chief first refused to answer, then said: ''To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two.''

Several hours after his appearance, Rumsfeld issued a statement from the Pentagon saying his comment ''regrettably was misunderstood'' by some. He said he has said since September 2002 that there were ties between Osama bin Laden's terror group and Iraq.

ArthurDent

and another quote from the above article

''It turns out that we have not found weapons of mass destruction,'' Rumsfeld said Monday in the speech. ''Why the intelligence proved wrong I'm not in a position to say, but the world is a lot better off with Saddam Hussein in jail.''


Now I agree that Saddam Hussein probably did deserve jail, but is it reasonable for the world's largest power to say "oops we made a mistake, didn't have any proven reson for our actions - but ya know he was a bad bad guy, so really we are just protecting you by doing this"

Surely this just hands ammunition to those that want to brand the US as an "evil empire", it's a pretty easy story to spin given the US's blatant disregard for due process in this case.

clearz

I know what a silly wee man saying that. And what did he do today but deny it. I hope the democrats tear into the republicans for "flip-floping".

PH01

That's nice of him. Learn by your mistakes is what I always say. Nobody's perfect. All is forgiven.
Do you think now that say sorry about that to Saddam and leave Iraq? Now that would be really silly.

If they said in the first place "...we want regime change in Iraq...", I'd say more prople would have gone along with it.
That WMD thing was always a rabbit on a hat - you never quite knew if it was there or not.
And the link to Al Qaida was always a cow-that-jumped-over-the-moon

bonkey

'Salright lads. Google news has already got articles up where Rumsfeld is clarifying (i.e. spinning) what he said and how it was "misinterpreted".

As for "the world is better off with Saddam in jail". Anyone notice how that has subtly changed over the past few months? Initially, the world was safer, now its just better off.

Of course, that in itself is as dodgy a qualification as any...although I'm pretty sure if I start to go down that road, I'll get the same treatment Kerry did and have someone (once again) falsely imply or conclude that what I meant is that I'd prefer Saddam to still be in power.....

jc

PH01

clearz wrote:

I know what a silly wee man saying that. And what did he do today but deny it. I hope the democrats tear into the republicans for "flip-floping".

Good point. I wonder if they'll pick that up, it would be excellent if they do.

Redleslie2

bonkey wrote:

As for "the world is better off with Saddam in jail". Anyone notice how that has subtly changed over the past few months? Initially, the world was safer, now its just better off.

I don't think even Rummy could believe that the people in this video are better off.

http://globalresearch.ca/images/Massacre%20of%20Civilians.wmv

Warning: Video features a bloody big explosion and a pilot saying "oh dude" in an "awesome" kind of way. :eek:

Maybe there's a lot more to it, but this sort of stuff doesn't do the pro-war crowd any favours.

bonkey

Redleslie2 wrote:

I don't think even Rummy could believe that the people in this video are better off.

I could be cavalier and say that when an American refers to "the world" in this context, they mean their own good nation.

More likely, Rummie himself would spin it by saying that while it is evident that individuals are undoubtedly suffering - and that the US is doing everything it can to help them - that the world as a whole, and even Iraq itself as a nation has a brighter future (and thus is better off) now that Saddam is gone.

Its all about the spin. First you change the terminology, then you change the meaning

jc

nadir

Aye, but strange Rumsfeld made that statement in the first place. White house obviously told him to make ammends, makes you wonder though. I always thought Rumsfeld and Cheney ware the loose cannons, but as time goes on I coming to the conclusion that its just Cheney.