Yesterday, the Bush Administration officially buried a Pentagon report which proved that Iraq and al Qaeda did not work hand in hand. The repeated claim of such a connection was one of the biggest lies used to justify the invasion of Iraq, and its official debunking did not make the White House happy. And whenever facts go up against ideology in Bushworld, it's the facts that are always wrong and have to go.
It didn't work this time. Barely twenty-four hours after the report was squelched, it leaked and is now online for all to read.
That sure didn't take long.
The report's proverbial "money shot" puts it in plain English: "This study found no 'smoking gun' (i.e., direct connection) between Saddam [Hussein]'s Iraq and al Qaeda."
The report goes on to detail what people who happen to know something about Iraq have been saying for years. As a secular dictator, Saddam knew all too well the terrorist group saw him as an enemy of Islam and wanted very much to overthrow him. Any assistance he gave to al Qaeda was virtually guaranteed to be used against him, therefore he had no reason at all to work with them.
There will doubtless still be die-hards out there who insist the truth is still being hidden, either by some mythical "fifth column" in the government or by the media. And there will doubtless still be people who believe them.
But we know the truth.
It didn't work this time. Barely twenty-four hours after the report was squelched, it leaked and is now online for all to read.
That sure didn't take long.
The report's proverbial "money shot" puts it in plain English: "This study found no 'smoking gun' (i.e., direct connection) between Saddam [Hussein]'s Iraq and al Qaeda."
The report goes on to detail what people who happen to know something about Iraq have been saying for years. As a secular dictator, Saddam knew all too well the terrorist group saw him as an enemy of Islam and wanted very much to overthrow him. Any assistance he gave to al Qaeda was virtually guaranteed to be used against him, therefore he had no reason at all to work with them.
[Osama] bin Laden wanted - and still wants - to restore the Islamic caliphate while Saddam, despite his later Islamic rhetoric, dreamed more narrowly of being the secular ruler of a united Arab nation. These competing visions made any significant long-term compromise between them highly unlikely. After all, to the fundamentalist leadership of al Qaeda, Saddam represented the worst kind of "apostate" regime - a secular police state well practiced in suppressing internal challenges.
But we know the truth.
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