Jim Lobe "Investigate all the lies"

From Tom Paine.com -- As calls mount for a full-scale investigation into the Bush administration's manipulation of intelligence on Iraq's nonexistent nuclear and chemical weapons program, let's hope that the other casus belli on which the administration based its war -- the alleged link between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein -- also gets the scrutiny it deserves.

It remains unclear whether Woolsey, Perle, Kristol and the mystery person who tried to coach Clark really believed there was a connection, or whether they were trying to plant the idea in the public's mind in order to set the stage for war with Iraq. But recently revealed discussions within the administration now suggest the deception may have been intentional.

"Wolfowitz argued that the real source of all the trouble and terrorism was probably Hussein. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 created an opportunity to strike," according to the two reporters. "Now, Rumsfeld asked again: Is this the time to attack Iraq?"

"Powell objected," the Post account continues. "You're going to hear from your coalition partners, he told the president. They're all with you, every one, but they will go away if you hit Iraq. If you get something pinning 9/11 on Iraq, great -- let's put it out and kick them at the right time. But let's get Afghanistan now. If we do that, we will have increased our ability to go after Iraq -- if we can prove Iraq had a role." (emphasis added)

This was clearly taken as a challenge by Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. No sooner had they returned to Washington than they convened a two-day meeting of the Perle-chaired DPB on how the crisis could be used to attack Iraq. The meeting, which the State Department was not even notified of, included a "guest" appearance from Ahmed Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), on whose behalf Wolfowitz, Perle, Woolsey, and several other DPB members had been lobbying for years. According to the Wall Street Journal, several DPB members agreed that an attack on Iraq was indeed warranted, but that, following Powell's caution, it would be much easier to pull off if a link could be established between 9/11 and Hussein.

As a result, Woolsey was quietly dispatched to Europe -- again, without notice to the State Department, or even to the CIA -- to try to uncover evidence of such a link.

Another story seized on by the hawks appeared in The New Yorker in spring 2002. The author, Jeffrey Goldberg, had traveled to northern Iraq, where he was given access to prisoners from Ansar al-Islam, a small group of Islamist guerrillas around Halabja. On the basis of one interview with a former drug-runner, Goldberg made it seem that Ansar was part of Al Qaeda and also linked to Saddam's intelligence services. Ansar soon became the key link, not only to Al Qaeda but to chemical warfare as well. The group was said to be developing poisons -- in other words, weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Woolsey called the story proof positive; Cheney called it "devastating."

It was indeed a great story, but nothing has since turned up to sustain the key elements. What evidence has emerged about Ansar's external links suggests the group may have been more closely tied to an Iranian security faction than to Baghdad. Its headquarters were obliterated in the opening stages of the war, and no traces of poisons turned up in the debris.

Then there was Parisoula Lampsos, Hussein's self-declared former mistress (also provided by the INC), who gave several juicy interviews on U.S. network television. In an appearance conveniently timed for maximum impact -- the day after Bush's 9/11 address to the United Nations -- Lampsos revealed to ABC's Primetime Thursday that Hussein's son Uday had told her that Hussein met personally with bin Laden at least twice in the mid-1990s, and on one occasion given him money. According to Newsweek, the CIA found her story incredible, but the hawks in Rumsfeld's office and their PNAC allies outside insisted that she get a hearing, which she did, and which apparently went nowhere.

Powell, in the only direct reference to any link between Iraq and Al Qaeda in his presentation to the U.N. Security Council, charged that Baghdad "harbors a deadly terrorist network, headed by Abu Musab al Zarqawi, an associate and collaborator of Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda lieutenants."

Zarqawi is not considered part of Al Qaeda, or even a "collaborator," according to regional specialists. His various sightings are also said to be based on dubious accounts. Nor is it clear that Hussein knew about Zarqawi's presence in Baghdad, if indeed he was ever there. And, needless to say, neither he nor his followers has been found by U.S. troops, although he has been the target of a high-priority search. Intelligence files captured by U.S. troops in Baghdad have likewise turned up nothing.