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Walking and chewing gum at same time It has been a regular refrain from the anti-interventionists that there was no real connection between 9/11 and Saddam and that by overthrowing the Iraqi regime, we were diverting valuable resources from the war on terror.
Well, that theory has taken a lot of hits, judging by this story.
In fact, by deposing thuggish regimes such as the unlamented one in Iraq, it makes it easier, by far, for intelligence services of the West to unearth valuable information about terrorists and their whereabouts. Or course in their hearts the peaceniks knew this all along, but no doubt they are now vexed about Iraqis nabbing air-conditioning units from Ba’ath Party headquarters.
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Or the Alwiya Children’s Hospital….
If this is supposed to illustrate that Saddam was helping to organise terrorism, it’s pretty weak; the guy had renounced violence & condemned the sept. 11th attacks. What’s more, the Israelis, who I wouldn’t describe as soft on terror, had allowed him to travel to Gaza. Seeing as Gaza’s effectively under their control, if the US had come in & picked him up there, could we then have said Israel supported international terrorism?
I need better ‘evidence’ than this.
Presumably A_t missed the BBC World At One interview with an Israeli Government spokesman today? It appears that Abu Abbas had most definitely not renounced his career as a terrorist, only pretended to so that he could foment trouble from within.
The Israelis let him into Gaza – then wished they hadn’t.
Meanwhile, if I rob a bank tomorrow and gun down a few innocent passers by in the process, will I get let off as long as I ‘renounce’ crime in a few years, when I decide it is expedient?
He was responsible for the party that killed one my fellow countrymen. Pardon the harsh language…but fuck him. If the Italian’s don’t want him, and from what I read they do, I’m all for bringing him to the US for justice.
A_T, as per usual, seizes the wrong end of the stick and empalese him/herself upon it. It was never contended by Bush & co that Saddam was directly linked to 9/11; rather, the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. emphasised that states with a proven track record of making use of terror – and there is no doubt that Saddam, Syria and others have – needed to be forced to clean up their act, given that 9/11 had revealed the willingness of terror groups to inflict massive damage on the West.
In the case of Iraq, it was decided that the only way of doing this, given his deviousness since Gulf War 1, was removing him and his regime from power. It is not in my mind the least surprising that the overthrow of his regime, and the impact of this on neighbouring terror-backing states, has been to throw light on to dark corners, as revealed by the story I mentioned.
Fairly simple, really.
G. Cooper… i’ve never said the man should be forgiven, or not prosecuted for his crimes. Murdering that old man was despiccable, and he should go to jail. What I *am* saying however is the fact he was found in Baghdad doesn’t prove Saddam was involved in planning 9/11-style terrorism. I’m not ruling out the possibility, but presenting shaky evidence as proof, just as has been done with the WMD issue, will not convince us doubters.
And Johnathan, apologies for misinterpreting you, but when you said “real connection between 9/11 and Saddam” in your original post, it sounded to me as though you were suggesting a direct link. Certainly, there are quite a number of people who do believe in a direct link. I apologise for lumping you in with them.