No, I don't mean terror of Cheney. Although he is a scary guy. Did I mention that before?
Mark Goldberg at The American Prospect's TAPPED blog has printed a list of new talking points from the Republican Policy Committee, indicating how they plan to approach the Democrats' criticism of their Iraq War policies. I'm reproducing here the talking points they list
To: LAs, LDs, Policy Analysts, Policy Advisors, Committee Staff, and Counsels
Pasted below are some RPC talking points on "Saddam Hussein Used Terror as a Weapon," highlighting that Iraq was a central front, and not a diversion, in the War on Terrorism.
I hope you find this information useful.
Iraq: A Critical Front in the War on Terrorism
Saddam Hussein Used Terror as a Weapon
1) In violation of international law, Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons against innocent Iraqi civilians as well as against Iranian soldiers in his eight-year war with that country.
2) Saddam Hussein drained the marshes in southern Iraq and committed genocide against marsh Arabs who lived for centuries in his own country.
3) Saddam Hussein kidnapped, tortured, and murdered tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians during his three decades of rule, and held hostage hundreds of innocent Kuwaiti civilians during his 1990 invasion of that country.
4) Saddam Hussein tried to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush by using a car bomb during a 1993 visit to Kuwait
5) Saddam Hussein gave training, political support, and sanctuary to numerous international terrorist organizations.
6) Saddam Hussein provided cash payments to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers.
7) The 9/11 Commission found conclusive evidence of close cooperation between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda: " There was no question in our minds that there was a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda. " Gov. Thomas Kean, Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, July 2004.
8) Saddam’ s regime was annually listed under U.S. law as a confirmed state sponsor of terrorism by Presidents George H.W. Bush, Clinton and George W Bush.
In other words, blow smoke and lie. Expect to hear some of these talking points from Dark Lord Dick Cheney on Tuesday evening.
I should emphasize that TAPPED is not just Some Guy With a Web Site, but a blog for an established magazine that observes old-fashioned journalistic ethics, i.e., not like Fox News.
And here's a version of that meme from a rightwing pseudo-news service, CSNNews.com, whose name can easily be confused with CBSNews.com at first glance, perhaps not entirely by coincidence: Exclusive: Saddam Possessed WMD, Had Extensive Terror Ties by Scott Wheeler 10/04/04.
If the glaring difference between the story and what we already know about Saddam's regime isn't apparent in the first three paragraphs, the following alone is an alarm-bell that there's a very good chance the article is far out into Swift Boat Liars' territory:
Laurie Mylroie, who authored the book, "Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War against America," and advised Clinton on Iraq during the 1992 presidential campaign, told CNSNews.com that the papers represent "the most complete set of documents relating Iraq to terrorism, including Islamic terrorism" against the U.S.
Mylroie has long maintained that Iraq was a state sponsor of terrorism against the United States. The documents obtained by CNSNews.com , she said, include "correspondence back and forth between Saddam's office and Iraqi Mukhabarat (intelligence agency). They make sense. This is what one would think Saddam was doing at the time."
Laurie Mylroie is a crackpot who hangs out on the fringes of the neoconservative crowd. If you have to rely on her to validate your documents, you probably can't find anyone else with a shred of credibility who's willing to be quoted on the record. For more on Mylroie, see It's spelled AEI, but pronounced Aiiiieeee!!! by Joe Conason, Salon.com 12/03/03 ("the pet conspiracy theorist of the neoconservatives") and Armchair Provocateur by Peter Bergen, Washington Monthly Dec 2003 ("Mylroie became enamored of her theory that Saddam was the mastermind of a vast anti-U.S. terrorist conspiracy in the face of virtually all evidence and expert opinion to the contrary.")
But this is the way the Republican echo chamber works these days. Dark Lord Cheney needs to wave the terrorism issue in Edwards' face and to connect the Iraq War with 9/11. So, just in time to circulate among the rightwing blogs and Websites to be handy for post-debate "documentation" these new claims appear. I picked up the crackpot news service reference from the noxious rightwing Little Green Footballs site.
In the words of the brilliant Steve Earle:
Now I've been travelin' all around
I heard trouble's come to your town
Well I've got a little somethin'
Guaranteed to ease your mind
It's called Snake Oil y'all
It's been around for a long, long time
- "Snake Oil" (1988)
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