Oh, those weapons of mass destruction
It’s from Foxnews so it must be a lie:
Al Qaeda-connected terror chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other terrorists are apparently trying to recruit Iraqi weapons of mass destruction experts and resources for possible future attacks against the U.S.-led coalition, the head of the Iraq Survey Group told FOX News Thursday.
In an exclusive interview with FOX News’ Brit Hume, Charles Duelfer — whose ISG is leading the hunt for weapons of mass destruction — said terrorists in Iraq are “trying to tap into the Iraqi WMD intellectual capital.”
And, of course, we know that there are no terrorists operating in Iraq; errr that there is no relationship between terrorists and Iraq; Err, I mean, uhm no, there is no relationship between Saddam and Al Q; err that no significant operational relationship exists between Al Q and Saddam. Yeah, that’s it – that’s the ticket.
June 25th, 2004 at 8:49 am
Hot damn, you’re right. This conclusively proves that our pre-emptive invasion was not only completely justified, but the obvious next logical step in the war on terror after Afghanistan. It also conclusively proves that everything the Administration told us in the lead-up to the war is absolutely true. The rest of the left side of the blogosphere and I will retire now.
June 25th, 2004 at 10:41 am
Hooray!
June 25th, 2004 at 11:10 am
Thibodeaux:
You should be so lucky. 😉
June 25th, 2004 at 12:52 pm
Your “moving the goalposts” jab aside, let’s analyze these statements:
Who said there weren’t? There are terrorists operating in the US, although you sure don’t hear much about them.
What do you mean by “Iraq”? The goverment of Iraq? The people? You realize Iraq is an entire country with around 24 million people, right? Are you accusing the CPA of colluding with terrorists, because they’re the ones (nominally) in charge? What? I don’t get it.
In case you missed it, Saddam was captured in December, and was hiding in a hole before that.
What does Zarqawi’s operation in Iraq have to do with Saddam?
Again, what does any of this have to do with a connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam? Even Zarqawi’s association with Al Qaeda or Bin Laden is tenuous at best
Probably the most interesting part of this quote is “terrorists in Iraq are “trying to tap into the Iraqi WMD intellectual capital.””, which in doubt is what you’re alluding to.
But note that these are now terrorists operating with a free hand, and are now seeking “WMD capital”, both intellectual and physical, that is strewn carelessly about the country — both thanks to the relative lawlessness of the country, courtesy of our ill-advised and incompetently-run invasion.
This has nothing to do with any of the justification given before the lead-up to the war, because none of it happened until after it. This is lame, post-hoc justification of a particularly idiotic strain. I don’t get it.
June 25th, 2004 at 2:29 pm
I’m convinced that Uncle has defined a couple of macros on his PC — one that automatically creates an “Oh, those weapons of mass destruction” post any time WMDs and Iraq are mentioned together in a news story, even if there’s no relevance. Another that says “Nope, no link here” if any story mentions even the most tenuous of links between Iraq and al-Qaeda.
(Speaking of links, Bush is linked with Iran, and Kevin Bacon is linked with al-Qaeda.)
June 26th, 2004 at 4:14 pm
What kind of question is that? Are you seriously suggesting that anyone could have run a terrorist cell in Baghdad without Saddam’s consent?
June 26th, 2004 at 10:38 pm
Zarqawi was not in Iraq at all until 2001, after fleeing from Afghanistan where his base was bombed by the US. It’s suspected he operated largely in the north with ansar al-Islam near the border with Iran. If you know anything about Iraq (do you?), you know that Saddam’s iron fist did certainly did not extend here.
If you have some information or proof of “consent”, or perhaps some actual cooperation, maybe you should let us and the intelligence community know, because I’m sure they’d be glad to hear what you know.
Till then, in considering the undertaking of a war with very real consequences in flesh and blood, I think we should stick to the facts that have even a remote shred of credibility.
June 27th, 2004 at 10:10 am
OTOH, if you know anything about Iraq (apparently, you don’t), then you know that Saddam’s iron fist certainly DID extend to Baghdad, where Zarqawi also operated, and also received medical treatment.
June 27th, 2004 at 8:56 pm
Xrlq:
I know that there are reports of Zarqawi receiving medical treatment in Baghdad, but I wasn’t aware that we had any solid evidence that he was “operating” there — maybe just being operated on.
What speculation I’ve seen reported from the intelligence community all seems to indicate that Zarqawi was at most tolerated, and certainly not helped in any meaningful way by Hussein’s regime.
June 28th, 2004 at 8:43 am
That’s not what I’ve read, which is that he operated a terrorist training camp in the northern region, but also operated a terrorist cell in Baghdad. Also, the medical treatment was at an exclusive hospital, not the kind an average Iraqi [let alone the rare bird who entered Iraq illegally] would just pop up at.