Insists that Saddam had 'a relationship' with Osama's gang
BY KENNETH R. BAZINET DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - President Bush once more insisted there were ties between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda yesterday - rejecting the finding of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission that there was no relationship.
"The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and Al Qaeda, is because there was a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda," Bush said, echoing Vice President Cheney's words from earlier this week.
The relationship was given as one reason for launching the war on Iraq. The other was Saddam's possession of weapons of mass destruction; none have been found.
"This administration never said that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and Al Qaeda," Bush said. "We did say there were numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda." Although the administration never blamed Saddam for 9/11, Cheney was still linking the two last night.
The veep insisted in an interview with CNBC that an alleged meeting in Prague between lead hijacker Mohamed Atta and a senior Iraqi agent before the Sept. 11 attacks was never disproven.
That's untrue.
The 9/11 commission says the meeting never took place - and has cell phone records and a bank photo showing Atta in Florida at the time of the alleged rendezvous.
The 9/11 commission has said it found "connections" between Al Qeada and the deposed Iraqi regime, but no evidence they had "collaborated." In fact, the panel said Al Qaeda sought to open training camps but Iraq refused.
The debunking of another reason cited by Bush for war was seized upon by the President's Democratic opponent.
"The President owes the American people a fundamental explanation about why he rushed to war for a purpose that it now turns out is not supported by the facts," Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said.
"This administration took its eye off of Al Qaeda, took its eye off of the real war on terror in Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan and transferred it for reasons of its own to Iraq," Kerry said.
"And the American people are paying billions of dollars now because of that," he said, "and American families and American soldiers are paying the highest price of all."
Political observers said it's too early to tell whether the row will hurt Bush's reelection chances. But GOP pollster Frank Luntz thinks Bush can capitalize on his decision to stick to his guns.
"There are certain truths that are accepted even if they're not true," Luntz said. "What they need to do is say that terrorism is terrorism, whether it's Afghan terror organizations, Iraqi terrorist organizations or Iranian terrorist organizations."
Bush has cited the continued attacks in Iraq now being blamed on Al Qaeda-tied terrorist Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi as backing his contention. The U.S. says Saddam provided a safe haven for him.
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