notice that "Saddam Hussien" is NOT in the title
the 9/11 comission today decided that there was no clear link EVER between Saddam Hussien, the Iraqi government, and the Al-Queda terror network. Even after miles of documented eveidence i.e; the 50 bullet document that was released by the DOD clearly stating at least 50 meetings and collaberations between the two entities. After Condi Rice, Colin Powell, DOn Rumsfield, Paul WOlfowitz, Bush 43, etc., have publically made and issued statements mentioning links as well. i do not understand why this is being allowed to continue, but the following is some reason behind my gripes, intertwined between documented facts and opinions.
First off, i believe the 9/11 comission entirely is a copmplete waste of governemt and tax payer dollars, time, and is as valid and fothright as i am quailified to do anything in government right now. They have paraded players onto the highest stage in the land, and forced them to admit defeat and mistake time and time again, at the mercy of the liberal media. No substancial information has been uncovered, or displayed, and few apologies have been issued. it is not the job of the goverment to apologize for the mistakes of 9/11, and/or the events leading up to that fateful september morning. heck, i have lost both friends and family in 9/11, and my feelings of this are as strong as ever. The job of the government in times like these, are to correct and streghten the ability to prevent instances like these from ever agian, happening on US soil. This was a whole new ballgame for the US, and i feel that even though we are wolrds from where we are to be in foriegn policy, securing our domestic boarders, and suring up the institution and spread of democracy world wide, we are most surely on the right track.
THe DOD and the highest protion of the chain of command in the middle east is under some scruteny right right for mistreatment of the detainees in Iraq, especially the Abu-Ghriab prision. lets again reexamin the facts, and allow me to issue some rebuttal towards this issue. first of all, the first error there, even as king of all liberals, Ted Kennady has responded to the fox news channel about is this: like israel, clearly define the "grey area" in our interrorgation tactics hand book. in the middle east, they adovcate the right to "torchure" prisioners. and i use the " "'s because, i am referring to stress positons, sleep and tempreture deprovations, mild "slapping", light and audio over and under stimulation, etc. and i feel this way because, if a man who is a know killer, and/or terrorist, and the difference between us finding out where the next strike is, is an unmuzzled dog snarling in the detainees face, then let that dog snarl. its worked, and is accepted in the middle east (jordan, israel, eygypt, saudi ariaba), and can work for us. Have soldiers from these nations come into iraq, and come into afghanistan, and to git-mo, and train us in these tactics, and use them only when we feel absolutley necassary. its that simple.
Now lets get down to Iraq, AL-Queda, and the happenings in the middle east right now. We are struggling at the moment with the mishadling of the radical shi'ite cleric, muqtada al-sadr. there is still a dead or alive arrest warrant out for his kill or capture, and as of today, the US was issuing statements referring to him as "iraq's issue to deal with," after the transfer of power, as they deem fit. then later on in the afternoon, i read that Al-Sadr was disbanding his militiamen, and issuing statements like he would like to begin his own political party in a free iraq, and would like to be recognized as a figure in a sovergn iraq. disbanding militias good, Al-Sadr for prez... ah...
Abu Al-Zarqowi has has free reign in iraq, since he limped away from torah bora in the 2001 liberation campaign, and made it to iraq, where he was treated at the best hospital, by the best surgeons the baath party had to offer, in baghdad, on Saddam Hussien's watch. and at the moment, since we fumbled the protection of falluja to the iraqi governing force, and he was able to escape, and behead nick berg for the world to see. the basic fate of a free and sovergn iraq rests in the hands at for the moment, the most powerful, and frquently seen man in the al-queda terro network. this needs to be addressed, and al-zarqowi needs to be killed or captured by the june 30th deadline.
the link between the two, has been clearly defined, and documented since the early 1990's, needs to be made more available to the american public, and more of a case needs to be more of a case made. everyone wants a comission? have a comission for that, placing kalid shiak mohammad, mousawi, saddam, chemical ali, dr. germ, tariq aziz, and baghdad bob on it, and get some answers. why wouldnt they talk? to compromise the life sentence, and/or death sentance they are all to serve for terrorist actions, and crimes against humanity? it would solve alot of the flak flying around washington, and save alot of time on the nightly news to be deverted towards the good going on in iraq, afghanistant, and other interest abroad.
but here is what i think what when on with the iraq and al-queda link, and why the president, cheney, powell, and rummy, wont really develop this more. before the war we got alot of the prewar intel from iraq defectors, and al-queda detainees. chalabi, whom, turned out to be one of the biggest bastrds of them all, came to the US over ten years ago, with a list of those he must meet and court in order to get an iraq he could one day rule. weather or not he would have turned out to be a solid president or not, his interest in a unified iran and iraq under a nuclear god was really scary, and i am glad we are wiping our hands of him at least until the dust settles, and the facts are present. however, leading up to the iraq war, chalabi produced defector after defector, and scientist after sceintist who time and time again laid out plans of saddam hussien developing and manufactoring chemical, biological, and even nuclear weapons. and time and time again, these people lied to the united states, especailly the DOD, and we believed them.
The fact of the matter is, after gulf war 1, saddam probably disbanded most of his harmful bio and chemical weapons, destroyed his long range missles, and had no plans to directly attack the united states, or at least stage any kind of attack on US soil. however, in the past, he has killed, murdered, torchtured, butchered, robbed, humilated, and destroyed hundreds of thousands of his own citizens, as well as, many of the neighboring countries in the middle east. given, bush was a president that didnt want to take any crap, and given, he was being shady to the UN weapons inspectors. all fact. so from a distance, saddam looks scary, and in my opinion, i do think he was highly unstable, and justifiably toppled last may.
but the al-queda link, that is more difficult to uncover. in 92, bin laden and hussien agree that al-queda will not tactfully infulltrate and/or attack iraq directly on the basis and equation for the equal amount of hatred towards israel, and US foriegn policy. this is fact. later, al-queda sub members, like hezzbola, and other militant radical islamic group under the juristriction and financial parachute of bin laden recieve bombing and suicide bomber training in iraq, that would be executed all over the world. then, mohammed atta, the leader of the 9/11 cell, meets in prague with high ranking iraqi generals, at what i call, a "terror summit." and this is the most frowned apon documented link between the two, because that meeting, at that time, would show a huge gap in CIA intel, allowing the number one man in the cell freely moving about the world, in and out of the united states, only months before the 9/11 attacks. last, the treatment of al-zarqowi at a baghdad hospital shows that somewhere, some how, these tow enitities were collaborating on one level or another.
one level, or another... there is a huge factor right there, not many people are willing to discuss, and/or elaborate on. but since i have no signifigant political ties, and can voice a free opinion, think about this. Saddam hussien the man, was by far in large, not a smart man. nor where his sons, uday, and Quose, by any means. niether were hitler, stalin, moussoulini, or any other huge diabolical political figure throughout the ages were. however, they ruled with an iron fist, and a death first policy. saddam scared the nation of iraq, the surrounding nations in the middle east, israel, and the US in believing that he was a tiger. the liberation in 03 proved by shadow of a doubt that the tiger was made of paper, and paper alone. my feelings are this on the linkage situation.
the war in afghanistan proved that we were serious about righting the wrongs of 9/11 abroad, and were on the path to elimating the safe havens and financial places for terroists to operate from. bin laden needed a new staging ground to denounce US policies from, and iraq would be an oil rich perfect place to to so from. he sends al-zarqowi there to "case the joint" under the respective radars of saddam and his sons. with the UN resoltion passed, the others in the Iraqi chain of command knew the end was near, and they had little next to nohting to protect themselves with since gulf war I. so why not try and harbor, aid, and abet al-zarqowi, in iraq, since saddam was on the way out anyways, and al-queda proved to be able to effectively strike, injure, and even deter (split) the united states.
for the years leading up to the war in iraq i believe that saddam gave the UN weapons inspectors such a hard time because he needed to in order to deter other nations in the region like kuwait, saudi arabia, and israel, that iraq was still a strong and dangerous region, and still a force to be reconed with in the mid east. this owuld prevent invsion, and assualt, and keep the intimidation factor up against allies of iraq. this would eventually hurt saddam in the end, because his unwillingness to admit he really didnt have any banned weapons ( which we found out the hard way), when his regime was toppled in march of 2003.
but i do believe that generals, scientists, and high ranking baath party officials, did feed saddam bad intel about the state of weapons programs, strenght of the military, and public opinion in iraq to prop up, and keep a scary figure head on iraq in the middle east. during this time (since early 2002), al-zarqowi and al-queda were in iraq and planning stratedgy to defend after the liberation (which would be the only way the US would fail in a war in iraq), via an exit policy. because when this government we are trying to prop up in iraq doesnt work, a radical islamic figure will emerge (ala mullah omar), and a taliban-like iraq will arise, rich in oil, and after a long, and difficult occupation, upset at the US and its policies.
so it is alot to soak up, but i would like to hear lots and lots of feedback, and feelings of people who both support and oppse these very strong feelings i have on the happenings of the last four plus years... thanks forthe ears, people...