.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

sufrensucatash

news & opinion with no titillating non-news from the major non-news channels.

 

I am: progressive, not a wild-eyed Progressive; liberal, but shun liberals and Liberals; conservative, but some Conservatives worry me; absolutely NOT a libertarian. I am: an idealist, but no utopian; a pragmatist, but no Machiavellian. I am a realist who dreams.

 

I welcome all opinions.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Reblogged:
   more on Bush Lied! NOT!

One of my arguments at another site.

Many news organizations, like the NYT, Weekly Standard and Foreign Affairs are now beginning to dive into those captured Iraqi documents I mentioned earlier and are finding some incredible stuff.

HERE


The top secret letter 2205 of the Military Branch of Al Qadisya on 4/3/2001 announced by the top secret letter 246 from the Command of the military sector of Zi Kar on 8/3/2001 announced to us by the top secret letter 154 from the Command of Ali Military Division on 10/3/2001 we ask to provide that Division with the names of those who desire to volunteer for Suicide Mission to liberate Palestine and to strike American Interests and according what is shown below to please review and inform us.

In other words, before the Iraqi War, before 9/11 Saddam was planning to use the same kind of terror to strike American interests that al-Qaeda used on 9/11.

I call that a real threat.

HERE

SADDAM'S ULTRA-LOYAL Fedayeen martyrs were ordered to carry out bombings and assassinations in London, Iran, and "self ruled areas" of Iraq in May 1999,

HERE

These documents add to the growing body of evidence confirming the Iraqi regime's longtime support for terrorism abroad.

The first of them, a series of memos from the spring of 2001, shows that the Iraqi Intelligence Service funded Abu Sayyaf, despite the reservations of some IIS officials.

The second, an internal Iraqi Intelligence memo on the relationships between the IIS and Saudi opposition groups, records that Osama bin Laden requested Iraqi cooperation on terrorism and propaganda and that in January 1997 the Iraqi regime was eager to continue its relationship with bin Laden.

The third, a September 15, 2001, report from an Iraqi Intelligence source in Afghanistan, contains speculation about the relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda and the likely U.S. response to it.

Tangentially, Foreign Affairs offers this Iraqi assessment on international support for the war,

HERE

Throughout the years of relative external peace for Iraq after Operation Desert Storm, in 1991, Saddam Hussein continued to receive and give credence to optimistic assessments of his regime's prospects dished up by his top military officers. Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz described the dictator as having been "very confident" that the United States would not dare to attack Iraq, and that if it did, it would be defeated. What was the source of Saddam's confidence?

Judging from his private statements, the single most important element in Saddam's strategic calculus was his faith that France and Russia would prevent an invasion by the United States. According to Aziz, Saddam's confidence was firmly rooted in his belief in the nexus between the economic interests of France and Russia and his own strategic goals: "France and Russia each secured millions of dollars worth of trade and service contracts in Iraq, with the implied understanding that their political posture with regard to sanctions on Iraq would be pro-Iraqi. In addition, the French wanted sanctions lifted to safeguard their trade and service contracts in Iraq. Moreover, they wanted to prove their importance in the world as members of the Security Council - that they could use their veto to show they still had power."

Had Gore or Kerry been in office, we would have knuckled under to French and Russian economic interests. Saddam read the Democrats rather well.

Couple this with your arguments and it looks to me that of all the people misinterpreting the intel, Bush actually had a better grasp on what was going on.

Among other things, the report stated that the Energy Department and the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research believed that the tubes were "intended for conventional weapons," a view disagreeing with that of other intelligence agencies, including the CIA, which believed that the tubes were intended for a nuclear bomb.

The point is those tubes were multi-use items, capable of being used for a variety of purposes. Unfortunately, what you are ignoring is that there are cheaper, more readily available materials for all those other purposes, except the nuclear use.

Question: why would Saddam buy the more expensive material?

Answer: To have those materials available when he did resurrect his nuclear program.

Please note. Resurrect, not initiate. Saddam had a very good political nose. He knew that international support for the sanctions was beginning to crack; unfortunately he also believed that the Bush Administration was made of the same stuff as the previous Democrat regime.

Bush did not lie about the aluminum tubes. At worst, he was wrong about the "intended use". At best, he recognized the illogic of buying those higher quality, more expensive materials if Saddam's "intent" was completely innocent.

That is an example of what the Supreme Court calls the "smell test". That is not lying; that is using good judgment.

Again, from your quoted source,

The report stated that U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously agreed that it was unlikely that Saddam would try to attack the United States - except if "ongoing military operations risked the imminent demise of his regime" or if he intended to "extract revenge" for such an assault, according to records and sources.

Well, that doesn't exactly square with what is now coming out, doesn't it. Again, Bush and company seem to be the ones who truly understood ALL the intel they were receiving.

The "truth" you extract, with your more dogmatic interpretation of even your own quoted references, increasingly appears to not only be missing the mark, but the target range as well.

The play is still on, but it is a play that is beginning to hint at a surprise ending.

Except for those of us who knew the danger all along.

2 Comments:

Blogger Mark said...

the US Government has made no determination regarding the authenticity of the documents, validity or factual accuracy of the information contained therein, or the quality of any translations, when available."

Huh huh. You just keep thinkin Butch. Ad ignorantiam all the way. Let us know when you find the weapons.

4/09/2006 2:03 PM  
Blogger Jay Cline said...

of course, how silly of me.

Saddam and his 400,000 man army spent 15 years concocting these phony documents so American forces could find them.

I know. Just before the Shi'ite majority pulls the trigger on Saddam's firing squad, Saddam plans to snort, "Psyche!".

4/10/2006 8:26 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home