“The problem with guns that are hidden is you can’t see their smoke.” - Ari Fleischer, 2003
Report Warned Bush Team About Intelligence Doubts
A top member of Al Qaeda in American custody was identified as a likely fabricator months before the Bush administration began to use his statements as the foundation for its claims that Iraq trained Al Qaeda members to use biological and chemical weapons, according to newly declassified portions of a Defense Intelligence Agency document.
The document, an intelligence report from February 2002, said it was probable that the prisoner, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, was intentionally misleading the debriefers in making claims about Iraqi support for Al Qaeda s work with illicit weapons.
The document provides the earliest and strongest indication of doubts voiced by American intelligence agencies about Mr. Libi s credibility. Without mentioning him by name, President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Colin L. Powell, then secretary of state, and other administration officials repeatedly cited Mr. Libi s information as credible evidence that Iraq was training Al Qaeda members in the use of explosives and illicit weapons.
“The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.” - Condoleezza Rice, 2003
I myself can’t resist asking: Why would an Al Qaeda member lie to Americans about a link between Iraq and terrorists after 9-11? What possible reason could there be for this man to intentionally mislead his questioners in this way? Is it possible, just maybe, that Al Qaeda has been playing our cowboy president like a violin for four years? Is it possible, just maybe, that this guy and his friends wanted America to invade Arab countries, wanted Bush to invade Iraq? Is it not possible that Al Qaeda set us up? I know. Wild conjecture. Conspiracy addled thinking run amok. But what if …
al-Libi? “Ibn al-Shaykh” wouldn’t happen to be Arabic for “Scooter” now would it?
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
So I guess that means that the Bush admin are a bunch of idiots who were stupid enough to fall for a terrorist’s transparent lies, rather than a bunch of lying war-mongers who manipulated and cherry-picked intelligence reports? I can see why that would make Bush apologists feel better.
Why would an Al Qaeda member lie to Americans about a link between Iraq and terrorists after 9-11? >>
Maybe he was tortured during interrogation? Torture is effective at getting the answer the captive thinks you want to hear.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5197853/site/newsweek/
The Brits learned long ago that information obtained by torture is usually flawed. Like the guys says, a tortured prisoner give the information you ask and it is seldom the truth. Settting foreign policy from this information is reckless and stupid. But hey…..what do you expect from the Boy George president.
Look at Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor, the witch trials in Europe and by our godly Pilgrims….people died because people lied..
But..if torture is okayed for treason, can I please torture Dick Cheney?
Joe Schmoe is right.
Torture and coercion will usually produce the answers you’re looking for; not the truth.
So much for ‘plausible denial’.
The war on terrorism, at one time, had nearly global support after 9/11.
These guys took the total trust and unambiguous commitment of the American People, and hitched that wagon to their warped vision of the world.
Like demented alchemists, they took gold and converted it into lead as they made the rest of us complicit in misguided adventure.
How will we ever convince the already suspicious Arabic culture that we rally want them to have democracy in Iraq? How will this be the staging point for human rights we hope will spread throughout the Middle East?
Do as we say, not as we do(?) Is that the telegraphed message to those who might have been willing to peek under the covers and give the american idea of freedom a chance?
BushCo squandered the idealic environment we once had for accomplishing some headway against Al Qaeda and it’s imitators.
It is not a lost cause, yet. But it will take decades for us to recover any sense of credibility in the arab world. The sooner we start the better.
Damn! The link
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5197853/site/newsweek/
BTW;
For the “End Justifies the Means” crowd; it seems al Libi was tortured in order to extract his bogus information. Is it becoming clear to everyone that torture, besides violating what we stand for, doesn’t work?
What about torturing them for fun?
Oh I get it. Instead of being simply stupid, this administration was willfully and maliciously stupid. Much like Frank, here. What an ass.
Apparently it was pull it out of someone else’s ass with a pair of hot pliers, or some such “technique.”
Frame;
That was the intelligence that propelled the run up to war.
“Pull it out of your ass”
frameone: Why don’t you buy a sense of humor? While you’re there, you could buy some vowels and consonants, instead of your usual vulgarity, profanity and obscenity.
I’m getting a strong reading on the bullsh*t meter.
The source is a selectively edited CIA intelligence report. In addition, it merely states that a terrorist said one thing one time, another another. And all about a very narrow, single issue. Now, I’m not sure, but I’m betting nobody here, myself included, has actual access to the orignial classified information, the complete intelligence estimate and is in no position to judge whats what on this. The people who actually made the decisions are the only ones who saw all of the intelligence.
Dugger
Dugger;
I’m sure it all is just a disagreement over what constitutes ‘torture’
Example; Is ‘waterboarding’ torture?
I guess it all depends what your definition of “is” is.