Did White House fake link between Saddam and Al Qaeda?

First, former CIA Director George Tenet told the president it was a "slam dunk" that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Then came efforts by the Bush White House to discredit critics, like ambassador Joe Wilson, who questioned the wisdom of going to war in Iraq.

Now comes a new book by author Ron Suskind claiming that the White House ordered the CIA to forge and backdate a handwritten letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein to link the Iraq regime to Al Qaeda. The White House calls the assertion nonsense.

In “The Way of the World,” to be published today, Suskind writes:

The White House had concocted a fake letter from Habbush to Saddam, backdated to July 1, 2001. It said that 9/11 ringleader Mohammad Atta had actually trained for his mission in Iraq –- thus showing, finally, that there was an operational link between Saddam and al Qaeda, something the vice president’s office had been pressing CIA to prove since 9/11 as a justification to invade Iraq. There is no link.

Suskind says the order to forge such a letter was written on “creamy White House stationery” but gives no details about how it was created or how it was delivered to Iraq.

The White House dismissed the accusation as so much sensationalism from a sensationalizing journalist. According to a story about the forgery in Politico, spokesman Tony Fratto said, "The allegation that the White House directed anyone to forge a document from Habbush to Saddam is just absurd.”

Tenet weighed in to defend the administration, issuing a statement saying:

There was no such order from the White House to me nor, to the best of my knowledge, was anyone from CIA ever involved in any such effort.

Asked about Tenet's response to claims of a forgery on the "Today Show" this morning, Suskind dismissed it as "part of George's memory issue."

Suskind was last in the news for co-authoring former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's kiss-and-tell memoir, "The Price of Loyalty." He is not viewed as a friend of the Bush White House. As Fratto said:

Ron Suskind makes a living from gutter journalism. He is about selling books and making wild allegations that no one can verify, including the numerous bipartisan commissions that have reported on prewar intelligence.

On the same day Suskind's book was published, a conservative national defense analyst issued a report saying that there were WMD and that the president kept quiet about a discovery that could have blown his critics out of the water to keep terrorists in the dark.

Retired Maj. Gen. Jerry Curry, who ran for the Republican nomination for president this year, reported in a national security blog item that U.S. operatives secretly transported Iraqi uranium to Canada for examination during a two-week airlift from Baghdad that featured a ship voyage crossing two oceans. He said of Bush:

He made a very brave stand, a resolute stand ... in which he decided that he wasn't going to blab everything to the press.... And in the meantime while he kept it quiet, he was buying time from the terrorists to get all that stuff out of the country. So that's what was done -- he just very quietly kept his mouth shut.

The press beat him to death for the last several years, and now it turns out that, yes, there were weapons of mass destruction.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: President Bush at a 2003 briefing with, from left, Vice President Dick Cheney, CIA Director George Tenet and Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. Credit: Eric Draper / White House

Comments

[Steve J.]

As others have pointed out, the yellow-cake was there for years and was under IAEA seal. There was nothing secret or threatening about this material.

[Keith]

If anyone out there still is "living under a stone" and is still, after eight years under Repub-a-crooks is buy'n into Bush's lies then please watch FRONTLINE, the PBS two-part doc called "BUSH'S WAR", then come back here and post.
That old saying, "the truth is out there".

[Verballistic]

Ron Suskind is a mercenary hatchet man with a clear aqenda & a penchant for outraqeous claims that cannot even be substantiated!! Bush-haters will believe what they want to believe with little reqard for the facts & will accept ANY neqative claims whether they can be proven or not!!

[carl]

Richard S. That does not look like Atta to me. The nose is wrong, and the guy in the picture is too tall.

[Bob]

This article is just awful, and the decision to run it is just as bad.

[John H Kennedy Denver CO]

ANOTHER REASON TO HOLD Impeachment Hearings in the House Judiciary Committee Prior To The Election.

Regarding the recent six hour preliminary Impeachment Hearing in the House Judiciary Committee:

ALL SHOULD BE AWARE that the House Democrats did not allow this preliminary Impeachment Hearing
Out Of The Goodness Of Their Hearts

THERE IS ONLY ONE DYNAMIC THAT RECENTLY CHANGED.

EVEN DEMOCRATIC VOTERS are now THREATENING TO UN-ELECT INCUMBENT HOUSE DEMOCRATS.

The Democrats are afraid of massive voter retribution in the November Election. They are afraid of losing their jobs, their power, and the perks that go with it.

The Voters have recently and loudly told the House Democrats that we are sick and tired of their stonewalling on holding Bush and Cheney accountable.

After My Democrats took over, the polls show that Congress's positive rating dropped to the single digits, the lowest in history.

The refusal of the House Democrats to stop the Iraq War and Impeach is unforgiveable.

We put you in office and if you do not hold Full Impeachment Hearings prior to the Election we will un-elect you.

In Colorado We Democrats, Independents, Republicans and others are currently doing negative campaigning against all incumbent House/Senate Candidates who have refused to support and even discuss impeachment.

If the House Democrats do not soon announce the date of the first full impeachment hearing scheduled prior to the election, we will greatly increase our negative campaigning.

THE RACE FOR the PROMOTION OF INCUMBENT Colorado Rep. UDALL TO THE US SENATE
is a statistical DEAD HEAT.

UDALL REFUSES TO
DISCUSS OR SUPPORT IMPEACHMENT.

WE can affect the outcome of this race and PUSH UDALL TO BACK IMPEACHMENT

Or STOP HIM FROM WINNING ELECTION TO THE SENATE. We don't need another Bush Lite Democrat in the Senate.

Incumbent Democratic Congressmen have our support only if you hold serious full impeachment hearings before the election. Fail to do that and we will campaign against you, It is time for a change in The Behaviour Of Democrats In Congress.

Voters who want accountability via impeachment should follow our example.

John H Kennedy, Denver CO
43 yr Democratic voter,
Obama delegate to the Denver County Convention, organizer of the
IMPEACH COLORADO COALITION
http://ImpeachCO.com

[Cryos]

The Bush administration should have used Clinton's tact and just "not recall" anything. It seemed to work well for Clinton for everything from Chinese military technology transfer to Chinese campaign raising issues to real estate deals. I suppose though that would require a friendly media to cover it up and bombard the public with a sex scandal to distort the real reasons Clinton was under such investigation and make it seem to be a "moral" issue about sex not the wide variety of scandals Clinton was close to or involved in. Imagine the fervor if as many people close to these Bush related charges died as did with Clinton.

I know the responses will be "the media has been in bed with Bush" but ever since democrats broke with Bush on justification for going to war in Iraq the majority of coverage has been negative and they highlight all these conspiracy theory type issues.

Neither party has an exclusive to greed or corruption. The neo-cons and neo-libs have taken over both parties neither of which is looking at our best interests.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_United_States_campaign_finance_controversy

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/05/22/china.money/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/missile/keystories.htm

[Cryos]

Oh please John H. Let me guess you've been a Bush hater since day one and mad since the democrats' attempt to legislate the 2000 election failed. You're still mad about the Clinton impeachment trials.

Don't forget about the minor facts like that the WMD issue was bipartisan and international.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/wmdquotes.asp

Since you are opposed to war I assume regardless of the UNs backing you think we should have impeached Clinton for the INTENTIONAL CIVILIAN TARGET BOMBING IN SERBIA. Here's a starter link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_NATO_bombing_of_the_Federal_Republic_of_Yugoslavia

[anonymous]

The media is complicit, basically requiring their reporters to promote the position of the editorial staff or owners - same thing in the end. I dont trust a single U.S. news source any longer, its amazing even the local affiliates have been manipulated and coerced into playing along.

Of Course Bushco is guilt, the only unanswered question is why the democracts failed to impeach them all?

[John Boom]

Bush must be brillant if he fooled both parties, the House and Senate, and most of the free world to go to war in Iraq. Are his enemies ready to admit the brillance of George Bush?

[Andrew Wang]

Bush is the worst president in American history. Bush facilitated the 9/11 attacks. Subsequently, Bush lied to Congress and the American people relative to the reasons for invading Iraq. Bush purposefully misled Congress and the American people. Then, Bush murdered more than 4,000 United States service members. And Bush wounded more than 30,000 United States service members. In torturing prisoners of war, Bush patently violated the Geneva Convention. Bush unlawfully wiretapped United States citizens. In using “signing statements” to challenge hundreds of laws passed by Congress, Bush violated the Constitution. Bush has ignored global warming. Bush is guilty of criminal negligence relative to the response to Hurricane Katrina. Bush disobeys our democratic values and Constitution. Bush is a disgrace to the United States.

Furthermore, Ron Suskind has revealed that Bush directed the forgery of a letter connecting Iraq to the 9/11 attacks. Bush is beyond help.

Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA

[Bob]

Why is Tenet breaking Bush's jacket-in-the-oval-office rule? Heckuva job, tenety.