Fox News: "Are Saddam Hussein's WMDs Now in Hezbollah's Hands?"
During a segment in which John Gibson and Julie Banderas were speculating on whether there was any truth to the baseless reports and statements from unidentified "experts" that Saddam Hussein's alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction had been secretly transported from Iraq to Syria before the Iraq war and "might have been put in the hands of Hezbollah," the onscreen text read: "Are Saddam Hussein's WMDs Now in Hezbollah's Hands?"
On the July 21 edition of Fox News' The Big Story, during a report on the "scary 'what ifs' " surrounding the current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, host John Gibson, along with Fox News' The Big Story Weekend Edition host Julie Banderas, speculated on whether there was any truth to the baseless reports and statements from unidentified "experts" that Saddam Hussein's alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction was secretly transported to Syria prior to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and "might have been put in the hands of Hezbollah." Throughout the segment, the onscreen text read: "Are Saddam Hussein's WMDs Now in Hezbollah's Hands?"
During the report, Banderas endeavored to "separate fact from fiction." Not mentioned at any time during the segment was the fact that the Iraq Survey Group's final report, commonly known as the Duelfer report, included no evidence that any secret transfer of weapons from Iraq to Syria had ever taken place.
From the July 21 edition of The Big Story with John Gibson:
GIBSON: It has been claimed by several individuals that Saddam Hussein smuggled his weapons of mass destruction out to Syria before the U.S. invaded Iraq. Now, one report suggests these WMDs might have been put in the hands of Hezbollah in order to strike Israel. Here, now, the host of The Big Story Weekend Edition, Julie Banderas. So, what do we know?
BANDERAS: All right, John. Well, this just adds to the "what ifs" -- I mean, scary "what ifs." You know, what if Hezbollah had chemical weapons? While, it's, of course, purely speculative right now, it is a definite possibility, and so is the possibility of Israeli troops carrying out ground invasions into Lebanon. We've been watching them massing up and lining up along the Lebanon border today. But if they do go in, the worry is: What awaits them on the other side?
Now, you may remember yesterday Al Jazeera television airing an interview with Hassan Nasrallah -- he's the leader of Hezbollah -- and he warns, "We have a number of surprises up our sleeves." What's he talking about? What does that mean? Well, John, there's widespread concern that could mean weapons of mass destruction.
So, here's what we do know. OK, let's try to separate fact from fiction here. Syria does have chemical weapons. Six months ago, in fact, former Iraqi general Georges Sada told Fox that Saddam Hussein had his WMD program flown out of Iraq and into Syria before we invaded Iraq. General Sada also says it was flown out on a series of 747 flights. Civilian aircraft were used; the seats were taken out, replaced with chemical weapons. That means the documentation, the test equipment, the production equipment, everything and anything that had to do with Saddam Hussein's WMD program was flown to Syria.
And we also know this. As you know, Iran, it funds Hezbollah, giving them over $100 million a year. Iran wants nuclear weapons; Iran supports Syria. Some experts say if Hezbollah has any WMDs and uses them that they'll probably trace back to Iraq, possibly, and keep Syria's hands clean of this.
GIBSON: Yeah.
BANDERAS: Could you imagine that possibility?
GIBSON: Well, Syria's hands wouldn't be clean, but sure, it's a possibility, especially if that stuff was taken out of Iraq and into Syria. Julie Banderas, thank you very much.
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were in iraq until the "summer of 2002", which would be nine months before we invaded. but just before the war, rummy said we knew saddam had wmd because "we know where they are". [not that it counts for much because we know the bush administration always lies.]
Rummy said they were around Baghdad, to the north, south, west, and east.
If they ever really existed, and if they were around Baghdad, those directions certainly narrowed it down.
We know where they AIN'T...anyone remember IRAQ?? P.S. What is a low-grade civil war?? Guess it depends if you were maimed or killed?
The Truth is that those whom would stil stand with the President and his handlers Rove/Cheney/Rumsfeldt must tell themselves the most fantastic scenarios to rationalize the carnage caused by their lies, and crimes.
They can't face their facilitating the fatally arogant militarism for the sake of a blatant imperialism while ingoring the obvious character flaws of these scoundrels.
The "Land of the Free, Home of the Brave" allowed these scoundrels to plunder our treasury, squandered our finest volunteer force's blood, and crippled a nation's honor, security, and very form of government.
We must make amends, we must make it right!!
See the title as to how!
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
FOX NEWS: "We provide a plethora of "WHAT IFs" -- you prognosticate to a comfortable level of hysteria."
...the lengths that FOX will go to in order to fill that propaganda order...
1) There are/were no WMDs in Sadam's possession... 2) Even if there were... WE made it possible for islamic fundamentalists to obtain them so easily!! 3) Please go to #1
THERE WERE NO FREAKING WMDS!!!!!!
BANDERAS: "Now, you may remember yesterday Al Jazeera television airing an interview with Hassan Nasrallah -- he's the leader of Hezbollah -- and he warns, "We have a number of surprises up our sleeves." What's he talking about? What does that mean?"
A rabbit maybe?
But seriously IF the Bush administration had bought into General George Sada "secret info" about WMD being shuttled off to Syria, don't you think they'd be SHOUTING it from the rooftops?
Until it's PROVEN [if in fact it EVER is], it's just ANOTHER "what if" PROMOTED by Fox as FACT.
Chevy Chase's classic Saturday Night Life news report, "Francisco Franco is still dead! ([link to en.wikipedia.org]
Only in this case, it is FNC saying, "Saddam's WMDs are still alive!"
Saturday Night Live - not Life
has Hussein's alleged WMD's, the state of Israel would be decimated by now. Hezbollah has an ally a couple nation's over preaching the destruction of Israel in its totality ( Iran ), long before this incursion into Israel began this altercation. The anti-Israel rhetoric coming out of that nation is as constant as Crazy Annie's tirades against liberals. Hezbollah methods parallel 1933 Germany when Hitler portrayed himself as the saviour of Germany while in reality engineering a method to eliminate certain factions of the population. The SS would also take their uniforms off and melt into the population. It is very sad that these morons, that sit on their chairs in air conditioned New York offices, get made up daily, get paid well and just sit there making stunningly stupid statements unable to cope with anything more than what is handed to them on a sheet of paper and whispered in their ears. Maybe Roger Ailes will read this and hire better quality morons in the future.
This is why Fox News is such an insult to Broadcast Journalism. They put the hypothetical question out there for discussion "are Sadaam Hussein's WMD in Hezbollah's hands." And then two of the dumbest Fox News correspondents discuss the issue.
The viewers don't deserve this crap. There are some serious issues here. Yet they continue to be ignored while Fox News goes about saying "bring it on" for World War III (or IV or whatever.)
God I hate these people. Thank goodness for the News Hounds website so I don't have to be subjected to this crap.
"Georges Sada told Fox ..." It is strange that Sada didn't go straight to the Bush Administration about two years ago and tell them this.!
Is Sada a just like "Curveball", the Iraqi exile that lied about Iraq's WMD that contributed to us getting into that war in the first place?
Once again, where are the politicians, Republicans and Democrats, denouncing Fox's drums of WWIII? Hillary Clinton, now one of Rupert Murdoch's friends and political funding recipients, should be able to influence Fox.
This is the way they can say Bush never lied about the WMD, which would then legitimize, in their minds, the Iraq war. It is a game of connect the dots. Even if it was true, if they knew where the WMDs were, then they knew where they were going. If that is true, then aren't they responsible for this whole mess? Why wouldn't they warn our ally Israel?
And, why wouldn't Faux News tell Bush this first before its audience?
It's been a common tactic of the Rovian propaganda machine to spread innuedo and rumour as if it were fact. It's a very simple tactic....you make a suggestion one day on the news, beat the mere possibility to death all day long, then stop mentioning it...but laugh as the Kool-Aid Kultists out beyond the tv screen repeat it as fact for the rest of their lives. They did that to us all thru the wind-up for Iraq Nam. And they're doing it again. They'll have ever Repub whacko screaming "Hezbollah has WMD!" by the time this is done. We've seen it before.
Oh, this is from the recent Israeli attacks on Gaza: “We are sure that Israel is using a new chemical or radioactive weapon in their operation…When we try to X-ray dead bodies, we find no trace of shrapnel that hit the person killed.” Dr. al-Saqqa, Shifa hospital, Gaza; following the examination of the “completely burnt” bodies of dead Palestinians killed in Israeli air raid.
There have been reports from 2004 of Isreal using some form of nerve agents on protestors as well. Something that puts people in violent convulsions for hours on end....a chemical weapon.
[link to www.counterpunch.org]
This type of propaganda has worked before not only with Iraq, but also Iran. Fox was reporting that Iran was less than a month away from a nuclear weapon. By the time the administrations propaganda was finished they had a poll out somthing like 70% of respondents believed it and we should look seriously at bombing Iran. It was when the Security Council was debating about getting the IAEA's take on Irans enrichment program.
A local talk show host interviewed General Sada (who was on a book tour pushing his work). Sada was not credable in my opinion. He "talked" to the pilots who transported the WMDs. He had also not been personally involved with the program and his was mostly hearsay and propaganda. His demeanor reminded me of a guy named Chalabi who was just trying to make a buck off the story.
"The good news is, we have found Saddam's WMDs! The bad news is, they are in the hands of a terrorist group."
This would be, if true, the equivalent of the terrorists catching Bush with his pants down. Not only would he have screwed up a major goal of the Iraq invasion, but he made the sitation worse by moving the weapons from a military state (which would use them for defense at best, conquering at worst) to a terrorist group (which would use them to murder).
What should be a cause for international concern and immediate impeachment for Bush has become a fearmongering tool for Fox.
that Saddam Hussein smuggled his weapons of mass destruction out to Syria before the U.S. invaded Iraq."
Yeah, Joh. Those individuals being yourself, Banderas and the rest of your fiction writting staff.
Shameless a*sholes.
I think just yesterday we were posting here that Rush & friends were proving Novaks innocence in the Plame case by quoting Novak and each other.
Now Fox is just repeating crap long enough so that they can report that it's been "reported many times"
It would be funnier if I didn't work with some people who swallow this muck.I know people who actually listen to some Fox or am radio Repub repeat a rumor for a few months, then that host tells them that they've been hearing this for a while, it must be true. It works on some of them, I know a Hannity fan who bet me fer-real money that it was proven the WMD's were moved to Syria. He wouldn't pay up, as I was unable to prove that there weren't WMDs in Syria.
The integrity of the values party.
The Echo Chamber of Idiocy. Axis of A*sholes. Care to add more?
When is the Big Story going to report on chemical weapons that have been used by Israel throughout the last ten years? When is the Big Story going to report on the DU contamination in Iraq from the 5,000 tons of it we dropped in Iraq in 1991. There are many reports on those weapons. Something tells me the Big Story wont find those reports.
What If. . .?
# What if Spider-Man joined the Fantastic Four? (Based on Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1, #1) # What if the Hulk had the brain of Bruce Banner? (Based on The Incredible Hulk Vol. 1, #1) # What if the Avengers had never been? (Based on Avengers Vol. 1, #3) # What if the Invaders stayed together after World War 2? # What if Captain America hadn't vanished during World War 2? (Based on Avengers Vol. 1, #4) # What if the Fantastic Four had different super-powers? (Based on Fantastic Four Vol. 1, #1) # What if someone else besides Spider-Man had been bitten by the radioactive spider? (Based on Amazing Fantasy Vol. 1, #15) # What if the world knew Daredevil was blind? (Based on Daredevil #2) # What if the Avengers fought evil in the 1950s? # What if Jane Foster had found the hammer of Thor? (Based on Journey into Mystery #83)
I grew up reading the “old” Marvel “What if…?” series. I always wished they’d done a “What if…Republicans Weren’t Total A-holes?” issue.
I think Stan Lee steered clear because it would have lacked credibility.
It was always my theory that Saddam did not have the arsenal that was predicted. We know the US did provide him with wmd to fight the war against Iran...did everyone forget that? Did Fox news forget how Rumsfeld was in Iraq in the 80's to prop him up with weapons to fight Iran? I believe much of his arsenal was destroyed in the 91 attack on him...and in following years inspectors had been destroying what they found. I believe he through the inspectors out because they were close to finding there was no real danger. He could not allow that to be confirmed. What is being found currently is from the 80's and very degraded. Rick Santorum tried to say "we found it" and was silenced by Bush's own expert who said the stuff under his sink was more dangerous. My theory was he kept alive the illusion of wmd to keep his enemies at bay. He was fighting to keep his power. He was asked by FBI agents why he just did not allow the inspectors to prove there were no wmd and his reply was as I suspected. He needed the illusion to protect his power. If he shipped his wmd to Syria he would have been wide open for deposing by Syria or Iran...something the neo cons were worried about as far back as 1995. Can you imagine the worlds oil supply in the hands of Iran? If you want to read the neo con plan written for Israel and the Netanyahu government to make Israel more independent of the US and a stronger power through strenghth in the Middle East it can be found here [link to www.iasps.org] It is titled "Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm. The participants were part of a study group "A New Israeli Strategy Toward 2000". It was prepared at the request of the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies Jerusalem, Washington. Shortly after Bill Kristol founded The Project for a New American Century. The mission statement embodies the "clean break" strategy...and many of the same neo cons signed on to PNAC. This certainly validates Paul O'Neill who testified that the Bush administration was discussing the deposing of Saddam before 9/11. They continue to deny this...but with those neo cons who devised the plan in 95 becoming US policy makers in 2000 it is no longer deniable. It precedes the creation of PNAC but the same neo cons are part of PNAC and the mission was for Israel to take out Saddam, attack Hezbollah on Lebanon territory and they suggested the plan be in the American venue before the election of 1996. They may have been concerned about losing pro independent allies in congress in that election. Read it carefully....it tells how the real danger in the middle east is Syria and Iran...not Iraq. The problem they saw with Iraq was a weak Saddam...which made Iraq vunerable. Israel and the US needed to have a new regime in Iraq before Iran or Syria established one. Thats my theory and I am sticking to it. I believe when you read the neo cons papers and writings it jumps off the page. I wonder why I never see any of these papers and writings being discussed in the media. Never mind. I found the Israel plan for clean break on the following site www.israeleconomy.org The plan included not taking any more money from the US.
[link to www.iasps.org]
This paper written in Dec 1996 by Wurmser lays out the whole middle east territoral struggle...and Iraq was "crumbling from within". The invasion of Iraq was never about wmd...or because he was a "bad guy" and "killed his own people". It was over who controls the region...power and control of the region...and subsequently Israels security and the worlds oil. That makes more sense. However invading Iraq by the US needed legal justification....hence the politics of fear.
Are the eternal reasons why. The rest is just window dressing to appease the electorate.
The remaining supply of oil is much less than most of us want to believe. Speculation is that we will begin to see the differential between supply and demand as soon as 2009. Domestic drilling cannot stave off the upcoming debacle, nor will converting entire corn crops to ethanol. We should have begun converting our infrastructure to alternate energies decades ago. Now we are doing too little too late.
Those in positions of power want to ensure they have control over the Iraqi oil fields. When oil hits $200 a barrel and up, American companies want a piece of that action. The wealthy want to make sure they will be isolated as much as possible from what lies ahead.
Eliminating Syria is just one more step in consolidating control over the oil fields. Fox has begun the propaganda machine to make the upcoming action acceptable, even desirable.
The Democratic Party has one shot at stopping this, and only one. It won't matter who wins in 2012. The only elections that matter are 2006 and 2008. But they too fiddle with the irrelevant while Rome burns.
Only one party ever wins....the War Party. Every time.
I KEEP IMPLORING THEM TO KEEP THEIR HATS AND GOOGLES ON. THIS IS VERIFIABLE EVIDENCE THAT THEY DO KEEP THE MOONBEAMS AND ELECTOMAGNETIC THOUGHT PROJECTIONS AWAY, YET THEY REFUSE TO KEEP THEM ON 24 HOURS A DAY AS INSTRUCTED.
Suppose Lebanon DOES have biochemical weapons. Why would they AUTOMATICALLY be from Saddam and Iraq? You mean NOBODY else in the world has biochemical weapons? What about the USA? Isn't MORE feasible that someone infiltrated George W. Bush’s mismanaged government infrastructure and stole them from a US installation? Remember the anthrax attacks after 9/11? That anthrax was traceable to stores of weapons-grade anthrax produced in a GOVERNMENT LAB. Fox News is amazing. I suppose if Lebanese soldiers were spotted with bananas they'd theorize they came from the moon rather than admit they might have come from a country that actually PRODUCES BANANAS.
With fear taking the lead, this administration has used "what if" to scare the American public, mislead the fact associated with very critical congressional policies, and unleash a murderous military campaign that excludes the Iraqi civilian population as human beings. The fear used to drive our defensive posture has been over used and the American public seems to be tired of the Republican's fear call; as some would say: "the jeg is up." When the Right winged congress used "what if" speculation to produce the Patriot Act, the American public at first showed strong support, but when the "dust" settled, the Patriot Act seemed to be a ploy to take away a lot of basic rights this country was founded on -- misleading to say the least. On a daily basis, I have watched in shock and shame for the lost standard this country maintained in their humanitarian practices -- to the degree that we were leaders for the rest of the world to follow. To see our considerations for humanitarian downgraded with terms like "collateral damage," we are rapidly becoming the very thing we claim to be the problem, and this practice must stop because the world has less patience for seeing dead children and innocent civilians taking the brunt of a unnecessary war campaign. Lastly, this country is in need of the return to the fairness doctrine because the Press has now become a manipulation tool for the right and has did more to mislead the American public then it does to set the facts straight; this is not a effective use of this medium.
Joseph
A-dog-ate-my-WMDs defense.
is the amount of faith leftists put in a man, saddam, who was directly and indirectly responsible for over a million dead, soldiers and civilians, in peacetime and war, for the rapings, mutilations, horrific executions, and imprisoning of children by the hundreds, a financial supporter of Jew-killing, a sponser of terrorist training camps and an ecoterrorist. i doubt it would matter to them if it were people over there, or over here, or perhaps even their own mother, wife or daughter who was raped and slaughtered. their insane hate of Bush makes them shills for one of the cruelest and deadliest murderers in our lifetime. such filthy shills are despicable, nihilistic enemies of humanity.
terrorists and tyrants are eager to plunge the world into a barbaric dark age whose horrors and misery would surpass fascism and communism combined, and the left eagerly aids them by their treachery. the unity after 9/11 fell prey to a slow poison that spread from isolated kooks to the mainstream of the dnc and like-minded leftist opportunists the world over.
the voters reject leftist agendas, so to spite them and punish them, the traitor left sides with the destroyers.
of plunging us into a dark age than the bush administration. i think their blind beligerence toward iran allowed a moderate regime to be replaced with a radical one. should we worry about this present iranian government? yes, but all bush did was allow the mullahs to appeal to iranian nationalism and turn the country away from the pro western path it was beginning to take. as for the "faith" in saddam, check your history book. that would be the sainted reagan who was such a fan of his.
Absolutely correct as this document from the National Security Archive illustrates: [link to www.gwu.edu]
Same old story, baseless denigration with no substative evidence to support the argument.
You got the "insane hatred of Bush" and the "raping and slaughtering of wives and daughters" into the same sentence.
The art of ham-fisted hysterical propoganda isn't dead.
First of all, no matter how many times Rush and Hannity repeat their line about this irrational, unfounded hatred for Bush, try not to get suckered into it.
This is like the out-of-control kid who gets disciplined at school, and comes home crying to his mommy that teacher doesn't like him, and punishes him for no reason.
Speaking for myself, I don't feel hatred for George W. Bush. If he were working at the local Ice cream parlor, scooping up cones, I would probably think he was a funny old geezer, just an out of touch old preppie rich kid who wasn't very ambitious.
Unfortunately, he stumbled into a very powerful position, and whether you think Bush is really running things or just the folksy front man,he's done a horrible job.
Add to his incompetence a complete absence of the ability to admit mistakes,a reluctance to change course when necessary, and a very child-like world view in a complicated world, and you've got the problems we have now.
I feel pity for GWBush. I feel irritation and frustration, but to feel hatred for a person,I need to first have enough respect that I can consider that person responsible for their actions.
Just as I would feel uncomfortable with a severely retarded person getting the death penalty for committing murder, I don't feel a lust for revenge regarding Bush.Just need him to go back to his western set in Crawford so we can try to make this country great again.
#2- what's with all the Mom and sister rape in your posts? Kinda creepy fixation.
#3- in case you haven't checked back on the other thread where you accused "leftists" of not lifting a finger (regarding more of the sister raping you're so excited about) I'm still waiting to hear where you're stationed and what branch you're in so we can help out.You're probably out at the front lines now, but get back safely and let me know.
The US has killed more Iraqis than Saddam has...we even helped him kill his own people all thru the 1980's, helped him to power too in the 1970's....guess his death toll is also part of ours too. When it comes to body counts, noone kills more than the USA. Cradle to grave, we'll get them there quicker! America the Homicidal. My country, the serial killer.
Speaking of ecoterrorism, the US has spread a highly toxic substance (just ask the EPA) called depleted uranium all over Iraq. Areas heavily contimated have very high rates of birth defects, not very pretty. Even US soldiers are experiencing birth defects in their own families from DU posioning. Our government refuses to stop using the material and denies that it has any adverse affects on civilian populations....which it most demonstrately has. The British were kind enough to clean up their DU in Iraq....the US refuses to.
They can wave their bogeymen, their Saddam's, their bin Laden's. their Irans and North Koreas at us....seen it all again and again, always the same, always a threat, never peace, never ever never, must have someone to threaten, someone to fight, to bomb. God, we love to bomb people, we watch it on tv like the Romans watched lions eating people alive in the Colloseum. America the Murderous.
"Shock and Awe," which murdered many Iraqi civilians, and destroyed a great deal of Baghdad, was strictly a far-right production.
But you knew that before you posted your lies, didn't you?
What a sweaty mess of apocolyptic fever dreaming. Mr. Roy, please be sure to take your meds as directed, even if you need to get one of the nice ladies in the white hats to help you.
And yet we're almost always right. You'll just take fifty years to realize it, adopt our policies, and wish you'd done it sooner, just like the right has done with everything else.....like equal rights, labor laws, environmental laws, consumer protections, etc. Just face it dude......we're right, you're wrong, and none of us care whether or not you hate us. Contrary to common belief, YOUR THE MINORITY.
And yet we're almost always right. You'll just take fifty years to realize it, adopt our policies, and wish you'd done it sooner, just like the right has done with everything else.....like equal rights, labor laws, environmental laws, consumer protections, etc. Just face it dude......we're right, you're wrong, and none of us care whether or not you hate us. Contrary to common belief, YOU'RE THE MINORITY.
My bad folks!
Fox's expert Georges Sada says that Iraq's WMD were flown to Syria. How does he know this? He says that the pilots *told* him.
This guy reminds me of Khidir Hamza who was all over Fox talking about Saddam's nuclear program. The guy turned out to be a complete phony. And we all remember Curveball the omniscient taxi cab driver. Let's call Sada "Screwball," Curveball's crazy cousin.
Fox really, really wants us to go to war against Syria and Iran and they are pushing this through their "experts."
No, not a "Civil War", what they said was actually "Civil War related program activities".