Saturday, January 17, 2004

Iraq War: Recalling the Prewar Days

The prewar claims of connections between Iraq and al-Qaeda did not go unchallenged at the time. For instance, this article from Nov. 2002, almost five months before the invasion of Iraq, noted that our European allies were skeptical about this claim: Allies Find No Links Between Iraq, Al Qaeda Los Angeles Times 11/04/02.

The article noted that in a recent speech, Bush had been unequivocal about Saddam's connection to al-Qaeda: "We know he's got ties with Al Qaeda." But for those who were able to hear, despite the war fever in America, European governments and prosecutors that had been effectively pursuing al-Qaeda terrorists had real doubts. From Spain, whose conservative government supported the war, came this criticism from investigative magistrate Baltasar Garzon. He is well-known for his hard line against Basque terrorists in Spain and was then prosecuting al-Qaeda suspects in connection with the 9/11 attacks.

A war on Iraq will not diminish the terrorist threat. It will probably increase it. ... It could radicalize the situation in the Middle East. ... As for the investigations of [the] Sept. 11 [attacks], doors would close in the Arab world that have helped in the fight against Al Qaeda. And a war would do nothing to bolster the investigation into the attacks in the United States. ... I have seen no link to Al Qaeda. No one has demonstrated it to me. ... And therefore we have to be very careful not to confuse the citizens. One thing is that you don't like the Iraqi regime, that Saddam Hussein is a dictator. But there are many terrible dictators. That's not a reason to start a war ...

The article described similar skepticism from officials in France, Britain and Germany. An unnamed German intelligence source dismissed the talk of an Iraq/al-Qaeda connection as "nonsense" and commented, "Not even the Americans believe it any more." It's sad to say, but allied governments had very good reason to doubt the claims Bush's government was making about the urgency of the Iraqi threat.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Scanned through some of your entries. Interesting stuff. Just stopped by to say Hi. Bill. "Comments on the events of my life".