Cheney Is Adamant on Iraq 'Evidence':LATimes

[jbfam4]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-na-cheney23jan23,1,1979048.story?coll=la-home-headlines



Cheney Is Adamant on Iraq 'Evidence'
Vice president revives assertions on banned weaponry and links to Al Qaeda that other administration officials have backed away from.


By Greg Miller, Times Staff Writer


WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney revived two controversial assertions about the war in Iraq on Thursday, declaring there was "overwhelming evidence" that Saddam Hussein had a relationship with Al Qaeda and that two trailers discovered after the war were proof of Iraq's biological weapons programs.

The vice president stood by positions that others in the Bush administration have largely abandoned in recent months, as preliminary analysis of the trailers has been called into question and new evidence — including a document found with Hussein when he was captured — cast doubt on theories that Iraq and Al Qaeda collaborated.

Cheney's comments were seen as stoking the controversy over Iraq as the vice president was embarking on a trip to an economic summit in Switzerland and meetings with European officials, some of them fierce opponents of the war who have been dismissive of U.S. claims about the threat posed by Iraq.



"There's overwhelming evidence there was a connection between Al Qaeda and the Iraqi government," Cheney said in an interview on National Public Radio. "I am very confident that there was an established relationship there."

That assertion appeared at odds with the recent words of other senior administration officials, including Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who said in an interview this month that he had "not seen smoking-gun, concrete evidence" of connections between Iraq and Al Qaeda.

[bif]

1. WTF is he smokin?

n/t

[paulk]

3. and where can I get some? nt

[BeyondGeography]

2. Will the whore pundits

say he's drinking the kool-aid?

I'm not holding my breath.

[tridim]

4. Toys in the attic

He is craaa-zy. What a kook.

[ET Awful]

7. Truly gone fishin. . . . they must have taken his marbles away.

n/t

[fjc]

13. Yeah, with Scalia.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. It always happens to guys like him.

They fly too close to the sun and the wax that is holding their wings together melts.

Lets all watch Unca Lurch implode. I predict it will be funnier than watching a monkey screwing a bowling ball.

[KC21304]

6. He may be drinking , smoking, etc but he also is

a GOD DAMNED LIAR !

[aintitfunny]

8. Dick's Way or the Highway

Because of the success of this administration in manipulating the American People to believe their lies, what "Dick" says is what "Dick" wants the American people to believe. Ergo, since he believes the WMD and Al Quaeda bull crap he help to proliferate, than all is well. Amen.

[aquart]

9. Don't you love his confidence?

He's daring the media and the Democrats to prove he's lying.

He knows he's got their balls in his pocket and he's playing with them like Captain Queeg.

[neverforget]

10. Needs to rationalize this war somehow in his mind.

[lyonn]

11. Cheney's words of wisdom

Would Cheney really repeat these comments before the nations of the world at an economic summit? I doubt they will see it as so many americans do that believe all that Bush & Co. speak. This sort of logic from the U.S. should reinforce the EU to build up their war chest. Why would they feel confident in what the great super power is claiming. We, Bush & Co., insist that the world will listen to us, believe our intelligence, and follow. Ughhhh.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. If there's "overwhelming evidence", then why didn't the chimp...

mention it in his SOTU address?

[Snappy]

14. The big Lie.

Keep repeating it. Eventually, ignorant, stupid people will believe it.

Here is proof that Cheney is a freaking liar. So is Powell and the rest of the pack. Colin Powell has dishonered himself and America.

Quote:

"We had a good discussion, the Foreign Minister and I and the President and I, had a good discussion about the nature of the sanctions -- the fact that the sanctions exist -- not for the purpose of hurting the Iraqi people, but for the purpose of keeping in check Saddam Hussein's ambitions toward developing weapons of mass destruction.

We should constantly be reviewing our policies, constantly be looking at those sanctions to make sure that they are directed toward that purpose. That purpose is every bit as important now as it was ten years ago when we began it. And frankly they have worked. He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors. So in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq, and these are policies that we are going to keep in place, but we are always willing to review them to make sure that they are being carried out in a way that does not affect the Iraqi people but does affect the Iraqi regime's ambitions and the ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction, and we had a good conversation on this issue." Colin Powell

When did Powell say this? February 24, 2001. More than a year before his presentation at the U.N., Powell knew that Saddam didn't have any WMDs and knew that Iraq wasn't a threat to its neighbors. He knew that the sanctions and inspections were working. He knew, when he gave his speech before the U.N. that everything he was saying was untrue.

[librechik]

15. the BIOS needs replacement or rebooting

Dick head is stuck a couple of years back.

[Snappy]

16. Honorable

David Kay did the honorable thing. He quit. That's what Powell should have done.

[Dudley_DUright]

17. Dick is in full blown Captain Queeg mode

(For those that have not seen it, watch the Cain Mutiny, and you will see what I mean)