If at first you don't succeed: Fox News again attempted to link Saddam and Al Qaeda
SUMMARY: In a report aired on Fox News' The Big Story with John Gibson and Special Report with Brit Hume, Reena Ninan advanced the discredited claim that "45,000 boxes of Arabic-language Iraqi documents captured by American troops" have revealed a connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. According to a New York Times report, senior intelligence officials have dismissed the suggestion that the documents provide evidence of a Saddam-Al Qaeda link.
In a report aired on the July 6 editions of Fox News' The Big Story with John Gibson and Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News correspondent Reena Ninan advanced the discredited claim that "45,000 boxes of Arabic-language Iraqi documents captured by American troops" have revealed the purported connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda that the Bush administration repeatedly suggested in the run-up to the Iraq war. After reporting that "a Fox News team" led by blogger and former Army officer Ray Robison had studied some of the documents and found that they support the purported Saddam-Al Qaeda link, Ninan reported that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) stated that "[t]he U.S. government has made no determination regarding the authenticity of the documents, validity, or factual accuracy of the information contained therein." In fact, senior intelligence officials have dismissed any suggestion that the documents provide evidence of a Saddam-Al Qaeda link, according to a March 28 New York Times report.
On The Big Story, guest host Julie Banderas introduced the segment by declaring that "documents captured in Iraq may link Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda after all," adding that Ninan's report was "for all those naysayers who said, 'Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, no way, they didn't know each other before 9-11.' " Ninan reported on a document flagged by Robison -- "apparently written before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks" -- that purportedly instructed Arab soldiers in Afghanistan on how to "avoid being detected." Later in her report, Ninan included a statement by former CIA analyst Mike Baker that the documents suggest "Saddam viewed the Taliban, perhaps not as an ally but as an element that he didn't want to -- he didn't want to miss an opportunity." Ninan concluded the report by noting DNI's disclaimer that it could not vouch for the authenticity of the documents, and then informing viewers that "Robison's translation [of the documents] and their interpretation are available in their entirety as part of our exclusive Saddam dossier series on foxnews.com."
As Media Matters for America has documented, Big Story host John Gibson touted the documents on March 24, stating: "This is the Bush-lied story. No WMDs, no connection with bin Laden, no connection with 9-11, no connection with any attacks on the United States. Now these documents are saying, yes, all that's true." Right-wing weblogs such as Captain's Quarters, Flopping Aces, The QandO Blog, and Hot Air also touted Robison's purported findings on June 26. Robison has also cited several of the documents to allege that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction before the war.
And while Media Matters could not find a specific example of an intelligence official addressing the claim in the document Ninan cited that Iraqi soldiers were in Afghanistan, there's no evidence that the documents released by the DNI proved a significant connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda. As The New York Times reported on March 28, senior intelligence and Bush administration officials dismissed the significance of the documents when they were first posted on the Internet, and expressed from the outset "serious concerns about turning loose an army of amateurs on a warehouse full of raw documents that include hearsay, disinformation and forgery":
Under pressure from Congressional Republicans, the director of national intelligence has begun a yearlong process of posting on the Web 48,000 boxes of Arabic-language Iraqi documents captured by American troops.
Less than two weeks into the project, and with only 600 out of possibly a million documents and video and audio files posted, some conservative bloggers are already asserting that the material undermines the official view.
On his blog last week, Ray Robison, a former Army officer from Alabama, quoted a document reporting a supposed scheme to put anthrax into American leaflets dropped in Iraq and declared: "Saddam's W.M.D. and terrorist connections all proven in one document!!!"
Not so, American intelligence officials say. "Our view is there's nothing in here that changes what we know today," said a senior intelligence official, who would discuss the program only on condition of anonymity because the director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte, directed his staff to avoid public debates over the documents. "There is no smoking gun on W.M.D., Al Qaeda, those kinds of issues."
All the documents, which are available on fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/products-docex.htm, have received at least a quick review by Arabic linguists and do not alter the government's official stance, officials say. On some tapes already released, in fact, Mr. Hussein expressed frustration that he did not have unconventional weapons.
Intelligence officials had serious concerns about turning loose an army of amateurs on a warehouse full of raw documents that include hearsay, disinformation and forgery. Mr. Negroponte's office attached a disclaimer to the documents, only a few of which have been translated into English, saying the government did not vouch for their authenticity.
Another administration official described the political logic: "If anyone in the intelligence community thought there was valid information in those documents that supported either of those questions -- W.M.D. or Al Qaeda -- they would have shouted them from the rooftops."
In a May 28 op-ed in the Times, New America Foundation senior fellow Peter Bergen wrote about the released documents and concluded: "It's long been known that Iraqi officials were playing footsie with Al Qaeda in the mid-1990's, but these desultory contacts never yielded any cooperation." Robison himself noted the possibility that the document was not from Iraq. On the Fox News website, Robison wrote that the "document does not identify the country of origin of these Arab men" but that "it's a logical omission since it wouldn't make sense to name the country in a memo whose purpose is to instruct how to hide one's nationality."
From the July 6 edition of Fox News' The Big Story with John Gibson:
BANDERAS: Well, documents captured in Iraq may link Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda after all, and the Taliban. Fox's Reena Ninan has the story, and for all those naysayers who said, "Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, no way, they didn't know each other before 9-11."
NINAN: Well, the big question, Julie, is, you know, did Saddam Hussein secretly send military operatives to work with the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan before September 11th? Well, declassified documents suggest that it's emerged from an exclusive Fox News investigation that thousands of documents -- which come from thousands of documents captured in Iraq.
Among the documents a manual, a how-to manual for undercover Arabic-speaking operatives and families living in Afghan city of Kandahar. These and other documents now being translated and studied by a Fox News team led by Roy [sic] Robison, a former U.S. military analyst and former member of the CIA's Iraq's Survey Group.
ROBISON [video clip]: This document appears to be a manual written by somebody to a group of Arab military, Arab soldiers. These soldiers are en route to join other soldiers who are apparently already in Afghanistan. It's a secret facility that they are going to.
NINAN: The document, according to Robison, appears to be written before 2001 and instructs Arab operatives inside Afghanistan how to avoid being detected. The operatives were warned to avoid speaking Arabic where ordinary Afghans might overhear them. The document also advises the operatives to avoid being tracked by, quote, "the enemy," saying to "behave as if enemies would strike at any moment."
Fox News and Orbison [sic] last month revealed and analyzed the contents of a 1999 notebook kept by an Iraqi intelligence agent. It documents meetings between top Saddam officials and the Taliban and tentative agreements on cooperation. One former CIA analyst says that's not surprising.
MIKE BAKER (former CIA analyst) [video clip]: Certainly you would read the documents that are out now, it does seem as if Saddam viewed the Taliban, perhaps not as an ally but as an element that he didn't want to -- he didn't want to miss an opportunity.
NINAN: The Office of the Director of National Intelligence had this to say about the documents: "The U.S. government has made no determination regarding the authenticity of the documents, validity, or factual accuracy of the information contained therein."
More than 45,000 boxes of Arabic-language Iraqi documents captured by American troops were declassified earlier this year and posted on the Internet. Robison's translation and their interpretation are available in their entirety as part of our exclusive Saddam dossier series on foxnews.com. Julie.
"The U.S. government has made no determination regarding the authenticity of the documents, validity, or factual accuracy of the information contained therein."
What more do you liberals want? A mushroom cloud??
They fabricated one.
Hey, it worked for them! If it works, why knock it?
Perhaps we just needed a better story to justify invasion and occupation. How about this one:
Saddam had stockpiled 10,000 nuclear weapons. He had filled the seas with his nuclear submarines and demonstrated an inveterate belligerance, bombing these countries since WWII:
• China 1945-46
• Korea 1950-53
• China 1950-53
• Guatemala 1954
• Indonesia 1958
• Cuba 1959-60
• Guatemala 1960
• Congo 1964
• Peru 1965
• Laos 1964-73
• Vietnam 1961-73
• Cambodia 1969-70
• Guatemala 1967-69
• Grenada 1983
• Libya 1986
• El Salvador 1980s
• Nicaragua 1980s
• Panama 1989
• Iraq 1991-99
• Sudan 1998
• Afghanistan 1998
• Yugoslavia 1999
• Afghanistan 2001
• Iraq 2003
He sold weapons to warlords all over the world, supported dictators, undercut democracy, and so on. Rather than feed and care for his country's children, he built ever more weapons.
We can use this story because it's our story. We own it. It owns us.
God bless America.
Hey Holly;
The item that sticks out for me is Beirut, 243 Marines for the Reagan Admin.’s swagger cred?? Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeldt seems to be in the picture when ever we squander Marine blood for tough talking rhetoric.
These people don’t care about the military beyond how it may be exploited for their own pursuit of power. We have never allowed such scoundrels to weld the sword of American might since the Civil War.
I love you posts; pragmatic, and sincere, all the while with a strategic insight that seems instinctively related to your love of our democracy. Amen!!
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
I often wonder what people think of my posts, for one day, I'll be livid. The next, a goof. And then the next, I'll opt for pragmatism.
We are a threat to the world. The world needs to bomb us to teach us what it means to be civilized.
...and just as plausible as any of the other garbage we've been tossed. Gone, I think, are the days -- I believe we've witnessed it during the last 6 years -- of believing in gov't... of having faith that our leaders will do right by their people... in hoping for the best when we hear tough talk/happy talk. I think we (as a nation) have finally become 'adult' -- that is, the pie-in-the-sky optimism of a 'young' nation has been replaced by a jaundiced view of reality and human nature.
It was inevitable. Probably about time.
Chile in 1973. We helped overthrow President Allende and install a military dictatorship.
...and he got "whacked" as well along with thousands of other people over the years.
the other day, as shown on media matters, michael savage dangerously likened the liberalism to the HIV virus.
in the early '30s a young convict by the name of Hitler eventually rose to the top of German government by playing to the fears of a republic that had all but lost their hope in humanity. he took control of the government with fear mongering, physical intimidation, and by stealing votes where ever the opportunity presented itself. the republic, now citizens of communism, refused to believe that their great leader was indeed sacrificing the soul of their country until it was too late. quelling their fears of a tenable nation along the way were propagandists on the airwaves blaming Jews for Germany's woes and the formation of a secret police eliminating, one-by-one, anyone who stood in the way of the master plan.
..."Hitler's ideology revolved around the metaphor of the German nation as an actual body or "living organism." The Jew was identified as a force within this body working toward its destruction. In his writings and speeches, Hitler continually referred to the Jew as a force of disintegration or decomposition; as the cause of Germany's disease (a bacteria or virus); and as a "parasite on the body of the people." The nature of these recurring images and metaphors constitute data revealing the fantasies contained within Nazi ideology." (source: [link to www.ideologiesofwar.com]
Increasingly today, we see inciteful rhetoric, tactics, and policy action items that are overtly similar in taste and texture to those of Nazi, Germany.
the banking spy program, telephone tap surveillance programs, and the other numerous spying programs (we have yet to learn about) are (at least in part) the same programs Nixon used to spy on political adversaries with.
senior intelligence and Bush administration officials dismissed the significance of the documents when they were first posted on the Internet, and expressed from the outset "serious concerns about turning loose an army of amateurs on a warehouse full of raw documents that include hearsay, disinformation and forgery"
Yup, amateur fueled fear, brought to you by the mob mentality of reich wing amerikkka!
And the ideological, training and intructions manual found in england after the London bombings, or the fact that some of the 9/11 terrorist lived and were recruited in Germany, and that the Madrid bombers built their bomb in Spain proves that these countries are acomplices of al Qaeda and must be invaded to complete the war on terror.
By the way, nuke Florida too, where the 9/11 terrorists received their piloting training...
...there's no need to nuke Florida. Global warming will take care of Florida.
But we could nuke Texas (or D.C.), for Bush read the bin Laden warnings and did nothing. That's complicity. If Bush was complicit, then wherever he was when he read those reports also bears the blame.
---"BANDERAS: Well, documents captured in Iraq may link Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda after al"---
This will not exactly come as a news flash to the hordes of misinformed viewers(thanks to Bush, Cheney, Fox & Co.) who already believed Saddam & Al Qaeda were linked. These viewers are the folks you hear saying, "We're in Iraq 'cuz THEY attacked us on 9/11".
Dubya Bush longs to reprise the part of Cole Oyl from the Popeye cartoons. You know, the guy who walked up to anyone and everyone and demanded, "YOU OWE ME AN APOLOGY!"
Yup, wrong on EVERYTHING, Bush's redemption, he has decided, lies on mouldy papers, buried garbage, hints of rumors, and wishful thinking.
When the rationalizations for committing troops to fatal fire turns out to be false, wrong, and incorrect, it's time to take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. George W. Bush, you owe AMERICA an apology, and a resignation.
I thought something similar when I read this column.
I remembered Harry Truman's "The buck stops here." and I longed for a man who's man enough to accept responsibility. What's ironic is that Truman yanked MacArthur's authority. Today, many of our brave, albeit retired generals tried to get Bush to consider the implications of our current occupation. It is the military that has tried to rein in this soft, courage challenged, intellectually challenged president.
Necons, note how I used "courage challenged" and "intellectually challenged" instead of other descriptors. You see, political correctness can be a good thing!
..ethically challenged!
"The buck stops here", indeed. One of the main talking points that the reichwingnuts throw at me when I criticize Der Fuhrer^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hthe President is: "so...he's supposed to know about everything? He's supposed to run every little aspect of our entire country?"
The question is deceptive....it makes the insinuation that for a person to be responsible for something, he/she must be personally involved, which is not true. Bush can delegate authority to whomever he likes, and go enjoy that much-needed vacation time in Crawford. However, when it comes time to ascertain who's responsible for the mess we've gotten ourselves into, he needs to remember: "The buck stops here".
Dubya and his boys wanted the Presidency badly enough to steal it twice. Since it seems like they're going to get away with the original thefts scot-free, perhaps they could at least take some responsibility for how they've misused their stolen power.
Rat from "Pearls before Swine" snuck in on my keyboard.
Fox has so many "scoops," that all their reporters should have those hats where the "press" card is apparent. Wait a minute, something is coming in on the Fox scoop wire..."Karl Rove named People's Sexiest Man Alive!"
I seem to have totally messed up here trying to reverse HTML. What am I doing wrong?
It's Saddam. He's everywhere.
...could be reduced to 2 boogeymen.
Saddam would be my offshore boogeyman.
Mr. Queer would be my domestic boogeyman.
When hurricanes happen, I would blame Mr. Queer.
When towers fall, I would blame Saddam.
Life would be so simple.
We conservatives blamed Mr. Queer for hurricanes??? Is that what you call mother nature now?
"I would warn Orlando that you're right in the way of some serious hurricanes, and I don't think I'd be waving those flags in God's face if I were you, This is not a message of hate -- this is a message of redemption. But a condition like this will bring about the destruction of your nation. It'll bring about terrorist bombs; it'll bring earthquakes, tornadoes, and possibly a meteor." –Pat Robertson, on "gay days" at Disneyworld
“Homosexuality is Satan's diabolical attack upon the family that will not only have a corrupting influence upon our next generation, but it will also bring down the wrath of God upon America.” -Jerry Falwell.
“(re: 9/11 attacks) "...throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools, the abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked and when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad...I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who try to secularize America...I point the thing in their face and say you helped this happen."” -Jerry Falwell.
And double duh. Now, be afraid when you slip into your jammies this evening, Mr. Neocon, for Mr. Queer is in your closet and as we all know, queer people are coming out of the closet.
"By choosing an avowed lesbian for this national event, these Hollywood elites have clearly invited God’s wrath. Is it any surprise that the Almighty chose to strike at Miss Degeneres’ hometown?" --- Pat Robertson
FYI...Ellen DeGeneres hometown is New Orleans. With "God's wrath," Robertson was referring to Hurricane Katrina.
If he wanted to get Ellen Degeneress why not destroy her house and only her house in Hollywood?
Don't question His ways, Lynn, or He will destroy the city your house is in when you're out of town.
Didn't we invade because of the UN violations, or to spread peace and happiness? Bush never suggested a link to Al Qaeda, that's a liberal strawman! Why would Fox try to support what I've always been assured is a non-story?
One of Al Qaeda's stated goals was the overthrow of secular regimes in predominantly Islamic countries. Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, fit that description.
One of the things we can say with certainty about Saddam Hussein is that he was committed to maintaining his own power in Iraq. He brutally surpressed any dissent and pitted people in his own party against each other as a checks and balances system to maintain loyalty to him. To think that Saddam would have collaborated with an organization that was committed to his overthrow is, IMHO, preposterous.
Saddam's support of terrorism, as far as the evidence suggests, was primarily focused on Hamas in its terrorst campaign against Israel. While Saddam may have hated the USA he had more immediate problems to deal with, such as his neighbor and enemy, Iran. I just find it difficult to believe that Saddam would have placed terrorism against the USA that high on his list of priorities or that he would have collaborated with an organization committed to his overthrow. Immediate self-preservation would appear to have been Saddam's most pressing consideration. I just don't buy this alleged connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda.
”Under pressure from Congressional Republicans, the director of national intelligence has begun a yearlong process of posting on the Web 48,000 boxes of Arabic-language Iraqi documents captured by American troops.”
Intelligence officials had serious concerns about turning loose an army of amateurs on a warehouse full of raw documents that include hearsay, disinformation and forgery.
A testament to the Republican lust for absolute power and influence. Instead of a nonpartisan group of interpreters and intelligence staff analyzing them, let every Tom, Dick and Harry in the nation pour over these coveted secret documents so the rightwing bobbleheads and blogosphere can twist, misinterpret, propagate, deceive and mislead on a grand scale.
Of Making Stuff Up!
It must be fun fun fun to work for the Bush Administration, where every day you get to play "government official" and every day is casual lies Friday.
On the other hand, it's dire national security that the minutes of the energy policy meeting Cheney had with the bigwigs of big oil must be kept under lock and key because someone misinterpret them.
That's their lie and they're stickin' to it. There's not much else they can do when the facts have a liberal bias.
That if we occupy Iraq long enough, we'll be able to find documents that verify that Jesus Christ plays shortstop for the Yankees! Fox News is so determined to find a valid reason to send troops to Iraq, that they've forgotten the troops are already there! Also, it's obvious that Reena Ninan wasn't really part of that "Fox News team" that excavated these startling old "facts"! She called Ray Robison, Roy!
The recently unearthed Baghdad scrolls reveal that Jesus played 1st base for the Yankees.
Freedoms, you're an nearly perfect prognosticator.
Jesus did, in fact, play shortstop for the Yankees a while back... but he only hit .229. Or maybe I'm thinking of that kid from the Domican Republic. Anyway, it is a fact that Osama Bin Laden played right field on Saddam's Bath Party softball team. Now he could hit!
for using 'roids?
Nah...it was Human Growth Hormone. That mother is tall. But alas, it took his kidney function.
Jesus and his brothers, Matty and Felipe, one of whom is still managing in the bigs, I think! Saddam was a pitcher on that team, a guy who could really bring the heat.
Sorry, Rufus, Fidel Castro was the pitcher. But I think Uday and Qusay were the bat boys.
My Bad! Forgot all about "Lefty" Castro.
...and now back to your regularly scheduled thread.
Sad, really.
One day, when FOX News ratings have declined, Mr. Murdoc will decide to switch formats and have the news delivered by wrestling midgets or something. At this point Reena will be looking for a new job and she will have to live with prospective employers viewing this video tape.
Coming from FOX news, there is no way she could get a job in journalism, but perhaps the McDonalds manager will still put her on the counter....
Holy hannah! They found documents in Iraq? In Arabic? Those motherflockers! Speaking Arabic now are they? Don't they know that Osama bin Laden speaks Arabic?
Do we need further conclusive proof of a link between Saddam and the terrorists? Time to fight mushroom clouds with mushroom clouds and nuke those inscrutable brown people before the Christmas season is upon us and my bloodlust becomes dulled by dreams of jingle bells resounding through my neighborhood mall...
"...When Hitler requested temporary extraordinary powers, powers specifically banned under German law, but powers Hitler claimed he needed to have to deal with the "terrorists", the German people, having already sold their souls to their self-delusions, agreed. The temporary powers were conferred, and once conferred lasted until Germany itself was destroyed...."
[link to www.whatreallyhappened.com]
I seem to having trouble with that link.
J/K
[link to www.whatreallyhappened.com]
---"BANDERAS: Well, documents captured in Iraq may link Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda after al"---
Any bets when the color coded "Teror Alerts" will start to reappear?
It's going to beat it over a log numerous times until it's nothing but a lifeless, bloodied pulp.
the Ailes memo regarding work ethics at FOX.
you should have continued with the Fox Scoop Wire..."People's Sexiest Man Alive....Karl Rove" but you missed this part..." on Terry Gannon's website"...Please be more exact in the future. And for those baseball quips, Jesus was neither a shortstop or a 1st. baseman...it says in the bible that He played LEFTfield....Satan was in RIGHTfield.
Fox News is to REAL news, what Etch-a-sketch is to art!
Fox News is to REAL news, what Patrick Nagel is to art!
Anyone familiar with Nagel's art knows what I'm talking about.
But thanks for the laugh!
probably 2 weeks ago, I went to inspect a problem in a condo(I work for a contractor in Orange County, Ca., very Con) and ran into this aging playboy swinger, actually not much older than my 44 years, but sticking with his Saturday Night Fever/Breakfast Club look.
and over the fireplace? Big ol' Nagel print!
Probably got him some action in '82, why fix it?
Jesus played one game at first base for the Astros in 79. He did, however, spend most of his career in the outfield. [I had to look it up]
When documents that were ALLEGED to have been forged were used as a source for a story on Bush's disputed Texas ANG service, they led to a retraction of the story and a discrediting of the reporter, Dan Rather . . .
Yet when documents that were WIDELY ACKNOWLEDEGED to have been forged are found to support a supposed link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, FOX News instantly presents them as the smoking gun {or the mushroom cloud} . . .
Umm, OK
FAUX News: we distort . . . you imbibe
These idiots will never give up. The right will keep repeating it until people believe it.
Amazing!!
..that looked pretty until you heard them talk?! Rena Ninan wins the award for this week! But maybe I'll give her the benefit of the doubt for today. For all I know, she could just be reading what the teleprompter says. Of course, what that says about her as a jouranlist isn't too good.. but hey.. we all know Fox doesn't employ journalists.
(As a side note.. poor Rena Ninan.. I wonder how her childhood was? First thing I thought when I heard her name was "neener neener". The childhood taunting must have been unbearable.)
No offense intended, of course. I actually like her name. One of my best friends is named Rena. *cough cough.. seriously* And I'm usually delightfully(!) surprised any time I hear the name anywhere.
""45,000 boxes of Arabic-language Iraqi documents captured by American troops" have revealed a connection"
To the casual reader, this phrasing implies that there is a mountain of proof, i.e. 45,000 boxes of documents establishing a link, when in reality a few sentences were plucked from that mountain of paper and tortured into a reading that starkly contradicts the facts and the truth but is compatible with the wishful thinking of Robinson and, evidently, Fox "News" commentators.