L.A. Times op-ed, by Senator Carl Levin: "Cheney lied. Again."

Cheney lied. Again.
The vice president is still trying to convince us that Saddam Hussein conspired with Al Qaeda.
By Carl Levin, CARL LEVIN, a Democratic senator from Michigan, is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
April 12, 2007

To paraphrase President Reagan, there he goes again.

On Rush Limbaugh's radio program last week, Vice President Dick Cheney spoke about Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi and stated: "He went to Baghdad. He took up residence there before we ever launched into Iraq, organized the Al Qaeda operations inside Iraq…. This is Al Qaeda operating in Iraq and, as I say, they were present before we invaded Iraq."

It is incredible that more than four years after the invasion, the vice president is still trying to convince the public that Saddam Hussein's regime was connected to Al Qaeda and that Zarqawi's presence in Iraq was evidence of a connection.

While the vice president doesn't say directly that there was a tie between the two, his clear purpose is to blur the line between Al Qaeda — the perpetrator of the 9/11 attacks — and the Iraqi dictator in order to justify the war in Iraq.

The problem is, that's simply not supported by the facts or by our intelligence community — and everyone except the vice president acknowledges it. In September, for example, the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded in a bipartisan report that Hussein was "distrustful of Al Qaeda and viewed Islamic extremists as a threat to his regime, refusing all requests from Al Qaeda to provide material or operational support." And the CIA reported a year earlier, in October 2005, that the Iraqi regime "did not have a relationship, harbor or turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi and his associates." As the Intelligence Committee report noted, the Iraqi intelligence service was actually trying to capture Zarqawi, who was in Baghdad under an alias. Is the vice president willfully ignoring what the rest of the government has concluded? Or does he have access to information he hasn't shared with us? If so, he should produce it.

The vice president has a clear, documented pattern of overstating and misstating information with regard to Iraq. He also, for instance, continued to claim that 9/11 terrorist Mohamed Atta may have met with an Iraqi agent in Prague — long after the intelligence community believed otherwise. Again, his obvious purpose is to link Hussein's regime with Sept. 11, even though the rest of the world has concluded that no such link exists....

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-levin12apr12,0,7221964.story?coll=la-home-commentary

it's going for Cheney:

"On Rush Limbaugh's radio program last week, Vice President Dick Cheney spoke ..."

He's speaking to his what - 12% base.

I thought Cheney's approval rating was in the single digits?

Al Qaeda right here in the U.S. Those nineteen hi-jackers came into the U.S., took up residence, enrolled in classes, and organized AQ operations right up to the day of September 11, 2001. But Cheney and Bush say they 'didn't connect the dots.'

Boy, that Saddam really had his s$@t together!

they all died conveniently, do I have this on now:tinfoilhat:

after all, that is where the terrorist had their flight training, right?

by his logic.

:applause:

and it works...the reasonable doubt him in all things

It galls me to read this from a Senator -- "The vice president has a clear, documented pattern of overstating and misstating information with regard to Iraq" -- and know that impeachment of these lying bastards is STILL off the table. And Iraq is just ONE issue where mountains of evidence have accumulated showing BushCo do nothing but lie.

Dems: shit or get off the pot.