After 10+ years, Rumsfeld still lying

[josephpalazzo]

In this exclusive clip, Morris grills Rumsfeld about his response to 9/11, in particular why he, along with the rest of the Bush administration, led America to believe that Saddam Hussein was somehow involved in the 9/11 attacks.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” replies Rumsfeld. “It was very clear that the direct planning for 9/11 was done by Osama bin Laden’s people, al Qaeda, and in Afghanistan. I don’t think the American people were confused about that.”

Then Morris provides some eye-opening evidence to the contrary. 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/02/exclusive-watch-donald-rumsfeld-lie-about-saddam-hussein-s-9-11-involvement-in-the-unknown-known.html#url=/articles/2014/04/02/exclusive-watch-donald-rumsfeld-lie-about-saddam-hussein-s-9-11-involvement-in-the-unknown-known.html

[Hydra009]

Rumsfeld's recollection is blatantly dishonest.  Bush admin officials repeatedly claimed that Iraq was linked to Al-Queda.

Straight from the horse's mouth:  Bush administration lies and misleading statements on Iraq

Another key component of the case for going to war against Iraq was the claim that Iraq was supporting al Qaeda. As was the case with other featured claims, the al Qaeda claims were disputed by intelligence officials within the Administration. Yet President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary Powell, and National Security Advisor Rice regularly failed to acknowledge these doubts or the weaknesses in the case linking Iraq and al Qaeda. They made 61 misleading statements about the strength of the Iraq-al Qaeda alliance in 52 public appearances.

Despite the doubts of many intelligence analysts, the five Administration officials regularly asserted that there was a close relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda. For example:

•  In a November 7, 2002, speech, President Bush stated: Saddam Hussein is “a threat because he is dealing with Al Qaida. . . . [A] true threat facing our country is that an Al Qaida-type network trained and armed by Saddam could attack America and not leave one fingerprint.”

•  In his January 28, 2003, State of the Union address, President Bush stated: “Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda. Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own.”

• In his February 5, 2003, remarks to the United Nations, Secretary of State Colin Powell stated: “what I want to bring to your attention today is the potentially much more sinister nexus between Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network, a nexus that combines classic terrorist organizations and modern methods of murder. Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist network headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi an associate and collaborator of Usama bin Laden and his al-Qaida lieutenants.”

• In remarks on May 1, 2003, announcing the end of major combat operations in Iraq, President Bush stated: “The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 â€" and still goes on. . . . [T]he liberation of Iraq . . . removed an ally of alQaeda.”

Vice President Cheney’s statements on this topic repeatedly cited reports of a specific alleged Iraqâ€"al Qaeda contact: a meeting between Mohammed Atta, one of the September 11 hijackers, and a senior Iraqi official in Prague a few months before September 11, 2001. For example, Vice President Cheney stated on September 14, 2003:  "With respect to 9/11, of course, we’ve had the story that’s been public out there. The Czechs alleged that Mohammed Atta, the lead attacker, met in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official five months before the attack, but we’ve never been able to develop anymore of that yet either in terms of confirming it or discrediting it. We just don’t know."

The Vice President’s assertions about this meeting omitted key information. He did not acknowledge that the CIA and FBI had concluded before the war in Iraq that “the meeting probably did not take place”; that Czech government officials had developed doubts regarding whether this meeting occurred;  or that American records indicate that Mr. Atta was in Virginia Beach, Virginia, at the time of the purported meeting.

[Solitary]

Politicians lying! Really? Solitary

[SGOS]

Post 9-11 was a time of great American hysteria.  It was a good time for Rumsfeld to sell a pile of crap to accomplish the long held goals of the right wing think tank, New American Century, otherwise known as the neocons.  Hopefully, they are gone for good, but I suspect they are lying in wait for their next opportunity.  Would America ever buy it again?  I wouldn't be surprised.  When fear and hysteria take over, reason loses its rather tentative grip on the populace.

[josephpalazzo]

Politicians lying! Really? Solitary

You expect that politicians will bend the truth, but here, Rumsfeld blatantly lies, and worse for him, he was recorded as the video clearly shows, and so, how can you go publicly and say, "hey guys, I never lied."

[josephpalazzo]

Post 9-11 was a time of great American hysteria.  It was a good time for Rumsfeld to sell a pile of crap to accomplish the long held goals of the right wing think tank, New American Century, otherwise known as the neocons.  Hopefully, they are gone for good, but I suspect they are lying in wait for their next opportunity.  Would America ever buy it again?  I wouldn't be surprised.  When fear and hysteria take over, reason loses its rather tentative grip on the populace.

You bet. Take Romney, had he won, he was prepared to rehire a good number of those neocons.

[stromboli]

You bet. Take Romney, had he won, he was prepared to rehire a good number of those neocons.

And we would be at war with Iran.

[Hydra009]

Post 9-11 was a time of great American hysteria.

And it still is.  Pick any major news story and there are dozens of "alternative" theories about what's "really" going on, which apparently is guided by little more than what the writer "feels" is true.  Imho, it's actually worse now than in the Bush years.

[stromboli]

We need to take Rumsfeld, Cheney, Karl Rove and the entire Bush clan on a long ocean voyage with a very unsafe boat.