Associated Press lies about Sadaam-al Qaeda ties

The Associated Press released an article today link that claims that the 9-11 commission has refuted the Bush administration's claims of a link between Sadaam and al Qaeda. The article begins, "Bluntly contradicting the Bush administration, the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks reported Wednesday there was "no credible evidence" that Saddam Hussein had ties with al-Qaida."

Yet, the report itself reads, in part, "The Sudanese, to protect their own ties with Iraq, reportedly persuaded Bin Ladin to cease [support for anti-Saddam Islamists in Northern Iraq] and arranged for contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda."

"A senior Iraqi intelligence officer reportedly made three visits to Sudan, finally meeting Bin Ladin in 1994. Bin Ladin is said to have requested space to establish training camps, as well as assistance in procuring weapons, but Iraq apparently never responded."

This is what AP defines as "bluntly contradicting" the administration's claims? Apparently the AP has a different standard of truth than normal people do.

The report further states, "There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda also occurred after Bin Ladin had returned to Afghanistan, but they do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship."

and

"Two senior Bin Ladin associates have adamantly denied that any ties existed between al Qaeda and Iraq"

However, Iyad Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq is on record in the London Telegraph link stating, "We are uncovering evidence all the time of Saddam's involvement with al-Qaeda."

The AP makes no mention of this in their report. One can only wonder why. Is it just incredibly sloppy journalism? Or deliberate deception?

Allawi also states, in reference to a recently uncovered Iraqi intelligence document that places hijacker Mohammed Atta in Baghdad two months before 9/11, "This is the most compelling piece of evidence that we have found so far. It shows that not only did Saddam have contacts with al-Qaeda, he had contact with those responsible for the September 11 attacks."

The Telegraph also reports, "In the memo, Habbush reports that Atta "displayed extraordinary effort" and demonstrated his ability to lead the team that would be "responsible for attacking the targets that we have agreed to destroy"."

Further putting the lie to the AP story, what the commission report actually says is, "We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States."

So from "no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attackes against the United States", AP gets "there was 'no credible evidence' that Saddam Hussein had ties with al-Qaida." Note that the only thing AP quotes is "no credible evidence", but they take it out of context and fabricate a outright falsehood from it.

This is what passes for "reporting" these days. Journalism schools should be ashamed of themselves for having produced such abject failures as those who work at AP.

THe Associated Press is clearly a propaganda organization, not a news organization.