Cheney Sticks To His Guns

The Skinny: Vice President Continues To Assert Saddam-Al Qaeda Link

(CBS)  The Skinny is Joel Roberts' take on the top news of the day and the best of the Internet.

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A declassified Pentagon report released Thursday concludes that there was no direct cooperation between Saddam Hussein's regime and al Qeada. But Dick Cheney, apparently, remains convinced there was.

The Washington Post on Friday said the report, which had been issued in summary form in February, drew on "captured Iraqi documents" and "interrogations of Saddam Hussein and two former aides" which "all confirmed" that Saddam and al Qaeda were not working together prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The Los Angeles Times said the report also sheds new light on the concerted effort within the Defense Department to establish a Saddam-al Qaeda link, despite a consensus in the intelligence community that Iraq and al Qaeda had only limited contacts – and that claims of deeper ties were based on dubious or unconfirmed data.

Not so, says Cheney. The same day the declassified report was released, the Post says, the vice president went on Rush Limbaugh's radio show to repeat his assertion that al Qaeda was operating inside Iraq "before we ever launched" the war, under the leadership of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist killed last June.

Cheney used the claim to bolster his argument that pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq would "play right into the hands of al Qaeda."

The Post points out, however, that Zarqawi was not a member of al Qaeda before the war, but "was the leader of an unaffiliated terrorist group." He didn’t publicly ally himself with al Qaeda until early 2004, after the U.S. invasion.


An SOS For 911

There's a major problem with the nation's 911-emergency telephone system, the New York Times reports Friday.

Although the technology has been available for years, the Times says many areas of the country lack the ability to pinpoint the location of cell phone calls – which is delaying the response to some emergencies, sometimes with life-threatening consequences.

Like the case of 911 operators in eastern Oklahoma who listened for more than 27 minutes to the harrowing screams of a woman who was being brutally beaten by an intruder, but were unable to do anything, since they could not identify where she was calling from. She had managed to dial 911 and kick her phone under the sofa, hoping she would be rescued. Fortunately, her attacker fled and she survived.

Others were not so lucky. A 4-year-old girl, also in Oklahoma, died in a house fire last year after a 911 operator misheard the address a cell-phone caller had given her and was unable to trace the location.

The Times says efforts are underway to upgrade 911 systems around the country, but the costs can be prohibitive, especially for the rural counties most in need of the technology boosts.

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[inventagod]

...and I continue to assert a Cheney-al Qaeda link...

[bobnjersey]

[Let us never forget that these things all started with a single person with a plan to take over the World ... it could happen again]

did he live in a cave? you gotta really watch out for those evil-doers that live in caves!

[homespunlady]

..."The enemy today hides in civilian clothes and plots and plans for our destruction. They are a dedicated group of people with no rules of engagement. Anyone who is an American is a Target and anyone who hates us is a friend. We must take the fight to his backyard or he most certainly will bring it to us. This is a new type of enemy the likes we have not seen before. How do you fight an enemy you cannot find..."
Posted by gwalsh3rd at 08:35 AM : Apr 08, 2007

I found this excerpt especially ironic since there's a growing number of Americans that suspect they're looking in the wrong country for the "enemy" he's described. Try in the US at the highest levels. The White House maybe??

[homespunlady]

gwalsh3rd:
Sadam's dead, there's a new 500 page book out by a top Iraqi outlining our mistakes, the Iraqis are holding massive demonstrations in the street (ironically Shiite and Sunni both in thowse demonsrations) demanding we leave, BIN LADEN is some somewhere in northern Pakistan saying our U-TURN to Iraq was his best recruiting tool EVER, and "Cheney's Chickenhawks" just keep emptying out our treasury and shipping it to Dubai, and other parts unknown. Interesting trip George took to South America recently. Wasn't that the area some Top Nazi's escaped to after WWII? Hmmm...
The rats are deserting the ship and from what I'm seeng the next few days may open a lot more eyes in spite of the media censorship.
Picking a fight with Iran seems to be the next step and I suspect George hasn't hesitated in setting it up. He needs a dose of reality outside his bubble - and soon.

[houser123]

Perhaps a more fitting headlinr should read
"VP Cheney, Sticks To His Lies". The only conclusion one can glean from this story is that the VP is delusional, in a state of denial, or just outright incompetent. How can he continue to defend his position when every intellingent agency in this country says the opposite? This is truly an administration that is in a State of Denial.

God Bless our great nation. Januaury 09 can not come soon enough for me.

[j0hnwi11iams]

Yes, *** Cheney IS insane. We knew that, but now it has been confirmed beyond all reasonable doubt. He knows the truth in his heart and can't be bothered with details like "facts". How sad it is that the right is led by the ravings of lunatics like Cheney and Limbaugh.

[randalds]

Dec 7 1941 a day that was supposed to live in infamy. A time when Americans rallied to support our troops. A time when they werent dropping lemmings from the sky but bombs and they killed thousands of Americans. People back then never thought an enemy so far away could ever be threat to us.In Germany there was an evil person named Adolph Hitler who some Americans actually thought was no threat either. 6 million Jews were killed without anyone knowing untill it was to late.Let us never forget that these things all started with a single person with a plan to take over the World.Lets us never forget that we live in a time when bombs can take out a single city.Let us never forget...it could happen again
Posted by gwalsh3rd at 10:21 PM : Apr 08, 2007

The biggest difference between WWII and Bush's filthy little war is that in WWII we were the good guys. Now, thanks to the fact that Bush invaded Iraq for no good reason, but for profit only and also because he not only condones but approves of torture, we're not the good guys anymore. Bush has changed America from the good guys to being one of the bad guys and that is unforgivable. That is what he needs to be impeached for the most.

[randalds]

Come on, gw, al Qaida WANTS us in Iraq. it's called "We're sending American kids to Iraq and putting targets on their backs, Bring it On!"

can't you see how W & D!ck have HELPED al Qaida?
Posted by actornaught at 11:51 PM : Apr 08, 2007

He can't. He really can't. He still thinks were fighting WWII when this filthy little war of Bush's has nothing to do with that noble cause. Bush's war is just a grab for money and power by a man who's been the joke of his family all of his life since he's screwed up everything he's touched. Because of this he was easily manipulated by others of a more evil bent, like Di*ck Cheney, who care only about war for profit. They whispered in his ear that if he was successful then dear old daddy wouldn't love Jeb best any longer. Of course, just like everything else in his pathetic life, he fu*cked this up too. I'd pity the little bas***** if he didn't have so much blood on his hands.

[randalds]

Let us never forget that these things all started with a single person with a plan to take over the World.Lets us never forget that we live in a time when bombs can take out a single city.Let us never forget...it could happen again
Posted by gwalsh3rd at 10:21 PM : Apr 08, 2007

I agree 100%! Which is exactly why I'm so opposed to the constant appeasement of that sawed off little Napoleon want to be, that idiotic bas*****, George W. Bush. This little pipsqueak of a future dictator wants to colonize the entire middle-east at the cost of trillions of dollars and tens of thousands of our troops lives and if Congress doesn't stop him, then I hope the rest of the world bands together against him. Not against America, because he no longer speaks for us, just against his regime. Remember at one time Hitler was just a little prick of joke too, so let's keep an eye on this as*shole Bush before he gets too big to stop easily.

[actornaught]

Come on, gw, al Qaida WANTS us in Iraq. it's called "We're sending American kids to Iraq and putting targets on their backs, Bring it On!"

can't you see how W & D!ck have HELPED al Qaida?