frankenlies.com
#12: "Not Working At All" With Facts
Franken reaches into the moonbat playbook and delivers this zinger on page 48 of Truth,
"Saddam’s regime and al Qaeda weren’t working together at all." (emphasis in original)
Of course, Franken does not provide even one shred of a source to support his groundless statement. Where are 14 Harvard researchers when you need them?
Franken's bogus assertion ignores several historical truths, including:
... Abdul Rahman Yasin was an al Qaeda member who took part in detonating the 1993 World Trade Center bomb. He fled to Iraq. In 2003, U.S. forces uncovered documents in Tikrit, Saddam’s hometown, that show that Iraq gave Yasin both a house and a monthly salary.1
... Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ran an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. When he was injured by U.S. forces in May 2002, he went to Baghdad for treatment. Discovered records show that he was treated at Olympic hospital, operated by one of Saddam’s sons, Uday. After he recovered, al-Zarqawi went to operate a terrorist training camp in northern Iraq.2
... In January 2000, Malaysian intelligence took photographs of Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, an Iraqi intelligence operative, at key planning meetings with al Qaeda members for the bombing of the USS Cole and September 11 attacks.3
... Jane's Foreign Report, a respected newsletter, reported that in October 2000, Salah Suleiman, an Iraqi intelligence operative, was arrested at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Jane’s reported that he was shuttling between Iraq intelligence and Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s #2 guy.4
... "On February 3, 1998, Ayman al Zawahiri, bin Laden's Egyptian deputy, came to Baghdad for meetings with Iraqi leaders. The visit came as Islamic radicals gathered once again in the Iraqi capital for another installation of Hussein's Popular Islamic Conferences. Iraqi vice president Taha Yasin Ramadan welcomed them on February 9 with the language of jihad ... We do not have reporting on when, exactly, Zawahiri left Baghdad. But we do know from an interrogation of a senior Iraqi Intelligence official that he did not leave empty-handed. As first reported in U.S. News & World Report, the Iraqi regime gave Zawahiri $300,000 during or shortly after his trip to Baghdad."5
Most importantly, Franken's false claim contradicts the very own findings of the Clinton administration. In 1998, the Clinton administration officially indicted Osama bin Laden. In the indictment, it is written (emphasis mine):
"Al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the government of Iraq."6
Franken is not only wrong, but he also contradicts the findings of his friend Bill Clinton!
By the way, if you're still not convinced, Thomas Kean, chairman of the 9/11 Commission said, "There was no question in our minds that there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda."7
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Notes:
1 Richard Miniter, Disinformation (Regenery, 2005), p. 117. [A great book!]
2 Miniter, p. 110. See also: Stephen F. Hayes, "The Connection," Weekly Standard, June 7, 2004. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/152lndzv.asp.
3 Richard Miniter, "The Iraq-alQaeda Connections," September 25, 2003. http://www.techcentralstation.com/092503F.html.
4 Richard Miniter, “Wrong (Again) About the Iraq-Al Qaeda Connection,” June 21, 2004. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=13856.
5 Stephen F. Hayes & Thomas Joscelyn, "The Mother of All Connections," Weekly Standard, July 18, 2005. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/804yqqnr.asp?pg=2 [Recommended reading!]
6 Miniter, p. 111. See also the indictment: http://www.fas.org/irp/news/1998/11/98110602_nlt.html.
7 "Transcript: 9/11 Panel Releases Its Final Report," Washington Post, July 22, 2004. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6014-2004Jul22_3.html