4.07.2007
Cheney Still Insists al-Qa'ida Had Links With Iraq, Despite Evidence (Independent.co.uk)
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
Published: 07 April 2007
Vice-President Dick Cheney continues to insist that al-Qa'ida had close ties with Iraq before the 2003 US-led invasion, despite the publication of further evidence, including the interrogation of Saddam Hussein, confirming the consensus to the contrary of US intelligence.
Mr Cheney's assertions came as Congress released the full declassified version of a Pentagon report that sharply criticises a special office in its own building for writing intelligence reports alleging such contacts.
Those claims flatly contradicted the considered judgement of other US agencies - including the CIA and the Defence Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's official in-house intelligence unit - that no such links existed.
The new report, whose broad conclusions were released earlier this year, gives the clearest picture yet of how Bush administration hawks manipulated intelligence to advance the case that Saddam was working with al-Qa'ida.
Before the invasion, President Bush and Mr Cheney fostered that impression in speech after speech - so successfully that at one point, polls showed, two-thirds of Americans believed the Iraqi dictator had a hand in the attacks of 11 September.
(More ... Independent > News > World > Americas)
Published: 07 April 2007
Vice-President Dick Cheney continues to insist that al-Qa'ida had close ties with Iraq before the 2003 US-led invasion, despite the publication of further evidence, including the interrogation of Saddam Hussein, confirming the consensus to the contrary of US intelligence.
Mr Cheney's assertions came as Congress released the full declassified version of a Pentagon report that sharply criticises a special office in its own building for writing intelligence reports alleging such contacts.
Those claims flatly contradicted the considered judgement of other US agencies - including the CIA and the Defence Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's official in-house intelligence unit - that no such links existed.
The new report, whose broad conclusions were released earlier this year, gives the clearest picture yet of how Bush administration hawks manipulated intelligence to advance the case that Saddam was working with al-Qa'ida.
Before the invasion, President Bush and Mr Cheney fostered that impression in speech after speech - so successfully that at one point, polls showed, two-thirds of Americans believed the Iraqi dictator had a hand in the attacks of 11 September.
(More ... Independent > News > World > Americas)
Labels: al-Qaeda, Cheney, CIA, Independent, Iraq
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