Bush: U.S. looking into whether Iran involved in 9/11
WASHINGTON - President Bush said on Monday the United States was trying to determine whether Iran was involved in the Sept. 11 plot and accused the government of harboring al-Qaeda leaders.
"We want to know all of the facts," Bush said when asked about reports that at least eight of the 19 hijackers passed through Iran before attacking the United States.
The commission investigating the attacks will detail links between al-Qaeda and Iran in its final report this week, raising new questions about why Bush turned his focus to Iraq after Sept. 11, 2001. The commission has found more al-Qaeda contacts with Iran than with Iraq, officials said.
Bush, at a meeting with Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, quoted acting CIA director John McLaughlin as saying "there was no direct connect between Iran and the attacks of Sept. 11."
The U.S. intelligence community has been harshly criticized for overstating the Iraqi threat before the war, leading to calls for its overhaul and for the creation of an intelligence czar. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush was willing to consider this step, although McLaughlin Sunday questioned whether it was necessary.
Bush said the United States will continue to look into whether Iran was involved. "As to direct connections with Sept. 11, we're digging into the facts to determine if there was one."
Iran, branded like Iraq by Bush as part of an "axis of evil" that threatens to fuel global terrorism, was "harboring al-Qaeda leadership there," the president said. He urged Tehran to have them "turned over to their respective countries" of origin.
"If the Iranians would like to have better relations with the United States there are some things they must do," including halting the country's alleged nuclear weapons program and support for terrorism, Bush said.
Iranian border crossing
The New York Times reported on Sunday that the Iranian government had ordered its border guards not to stamp the passports of Saudi al-Qaeda members moving through Iran after training in Afghanistan.
An Iranian stamp could have made the al-Qaeda members subject to additional scrutiny upon entering the United States, U.S. officials said
Iran acknowledged some of the Sept. 11 attackers may have passed through illegally, but said it had since tightened border controls. It said any attempts to tie the country to al-Qaeda, the militant network which carried out the attacks, were part of U.S. election-year "news propaganda."
Bush and members of his administration have focused more attention on disputed Iraqi ties to al-Qaeda, and cited those ties in making their case for invading Iraq in 2003.
The Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this month harshly criticized the U.S. intelligence community for overstating the Iraqi threat of weapons of mass destruction before the war.
And a Sept. 11 commission staff report, which is expected to be endorsed in the final report, said there was no evidence that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had a "collaborative relationship" with al-Qaeda.
Reuters
Via money Europe could become political in five years" "... the current communities should be completed by a Finance Common Market which would lead us to European economic unity. Only then would ... the mutual commitments make it fairly easy to produce the political union which is the goal"
Fool me once Bush and uh... wait how did it go again? Oh yea...
Shrub W. wrote:"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, it's probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on ... shame on you. It fool me. We can't get fooled again."
Devolution is quite as natural as evolution, and may be just as pleasing, or even a good deal more pleasing, to God. If the average man is made in God's image, then a man such as Beethoven or Aristotle is plainly superior to God, and so God may be jealous of him, and eager to see his superiority perish with his bodily frame.
Η ζωή, η ζωή εδω τελειώνει!
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"Angela is not the woman you think she is Gabriel, she's done terrible things"
"So have I, and I'm going to do them all to you." - Sylar to Arthur 'Heroes'
This while Saudi Arabia is granted amnesty for and blocking us from accessing AQ assholes who turn themselves in?
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I really, really, really want to know, what possible justification could Bush have for antagonizing the shit out of Iran? Is it really wise? Or necessary?
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HemlockGrey wrote:I really, really, really want to know, what possible justification could Bush have for antagonizing the shit out of Iran? Is it really wise? Or necessary?
My guess..... they're expecting another terrorist attack (probably on election day) and the Neo-cons want their next target fingered well in advance- even if it had nothing to do with attack itself.
Devolution is quite as natural as evolution, and may be just as pleasing, or even a good deal more pleasing, to God. If the average man is made in God's image, then a man such as Beethoven or Aristotle is plainly superior to God, and so God may be jealous of him, and eager to see his superiority perish with his bodily frame.
Sometimes I wonder if George Bush thinks he is playing a game of risk. The Syrian thing, and now this with Iran. He can then have a supply convoy from the Persian Gulf to Afganistan if he decides to do another mass 3-dice assault on Iran. Save those cards for more reinforcements for North Korea after China uses its cards to build its Operation Rising Dragon naval fleet. See, Bush has a flawless Risk: Modern strategy going on.
Damn, can you say "fishing?" I mean, honestly. First Iraq, now Iran?
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Although the US could flatten Iran, and this Administration has showed it isn't constrained by international opinion so ...
Η ζωή, η ζωή εδω τελειώνει!
"Science is one cold-hearted bitch with a 14" strap-on" - Masuka 'Dexter'
"Angela is not the woman you think she is Gabriel, she's done terrible things"
"So have I, and I'm going to do them all to you." - Sylar to Arthur 'Heroes'
Crown wrote:Although the US could flatten Iran, and this Administration has showed it isn't constrained by international opinion so ...
What would they do after invading? The US doesn't have the resources to occupy Iran. And if it can't occupy it, then what? And actually I'd like to see the United States try invading Iran; it'd be very hard what with the mountains. Also, unlike Iraq, Iran is not crippled by years of sanctions. Hard fight, very messy for the US.
Crown wrote:Although the US could flatten Iran, and this Administration has showed it isn't constrained by international opinion so ...
What would they do after invading? The US doesn't have the resources to occupy Iran. And if it can't occupy it, then what? And actually I'd like to see the United States try invading Iran; it'd be very hard what with the mountains. Also, unlike Iraq, Iran is not crippled by years of sanctions. Hard fight, very messy for the US.
I said flatten not invade. The two are mutually exclusive.
Η ζωή, η ζωή εδω τελειώνει!
"Science is one cold-hearted bitch with a 14" strap-on" - Masuka 'Dexter'
"Angela is not the woman you think she is Gabriel, she's done terrible things"
"So have I, and I'm going to do them all to you." - Sylar to Arthur 'Heroes'
Crown wrote:Although the US could flatten Iran, and this Administration has showed it isn't constrained by international opinion so ...
What would they do after invading? The US doesn't have the resources to occupy Iran. And if it can't occupy it, then what? And actually I'd like to see the United States try invading Iran; it'd be very hard what with the mountains. Also, unlike Iraq, Iran is not crippled by years of sanctions. Hard fight, very messy for the US.
I said flatten not invade. The two are mutually exclusive.
Rubbish. The US is actually constrained by the international community; it would never be allowed to just flatten Iran under todays circumstances.
Crown wrote:I said flatten not invade. The two are mutually exclusive.
Rubbish. The US is actually constrained by the international community; it would never be allowed to just flatten Iran under todays circumstances.
Please justify your opinion.
Η ζωή, η ζωή εδω τελειώνει!
"Science is one cold-hearted bitch with a 14" strap-on" - Masuka 'Dexter'
"Angela is not the woman you think she is Gabriel, she's done terrible things"
"So have I, and I'm going to do them all to you." - Sylar to Arthur 'Heroes'
Yeah, well, ya'll are discussing what might happen without being directly involved - me, I'm going to do my part to fire the chief executive and send him to the unemployment line on the morning of November 3.
We're stretched too thin - they're already essentially drafting former military personnel (mandatory callbacks) because they're running short. There aren't enough people to invade and hold Iran...
... which wouldn't stop the NeoCon fucktards in love with technology (would rather buy robots than pay a human being a decent wage) from doing a LOT of damage.
Not to mention those of us back home are getting tired of our young men and women coming home in boxes and in pieces.
Yes, the crowd in DC do have thoughts of invading Iran, probably with some asswipe thoughts of taking "revenge" for the hostage crisis of 1980. Or some other bullshit. They've decided Iran is the Enemy and are just looking for an excuse that won't have the peons - excuse, voters - rioting in the streets and demanding their heads.
Don't pooh-pooh the idea that the current crew might try to invade Iran. Yeah, I do think that on some level Bush thinks this is a game of sorts - one he personally risks no blood or personal danger in. I don't think he cares about shedding other peoples' blood.
Crown wrote:I said flatten not invade. The two are mutually exclusive.
Rubbish. The US is actually constrained by the international community; it would never be allowed to just flatten Iran under todays circumstances.
Please justify your opinion.
Do you really think the US would risk the economic backlash geenrated by nuking a country [or carpet bombing, whatever] with so much recent foreign investment? I read somewhere that Iran has a very good growth rate, and it's forecasted such growth to continue for a long time to come. Countries like Japan and South Korea have millions of dollars invested in just Irans car industry; those govenments would never agree to the US to just walk in and flatten all that investment over....what? The 9/11 Commissions latest report? [which in fact must contain old intelligence so the question is.....why flatten now?].
This kind of operation has never been seen before, it could force the EU to band together and threaten the US with economic sanctions. After all, flattening a country is not something you see everyday because it's soooooooo extreme; the US would be seen as a crazy rogue nation [who knows who it will nuke next?] and hopefully isolated and starved to death.
We know the international community couldn't constrain the US in invading Iraq, but flattening Iran is another story. One which you might like to shed some light as to how it would work?
Broomstick wrote:Yeah, well, ya'll are discussing what might happen without being directly involved
So?
- me, I'm going to do my part to fire the chief executive and send him to the unemployment line on the morning of November 3.
Good.
We're stretched too thin - they're already essentially drafting former military personnel (mandatory callbacks) because they're running short. There aren't enough people to invade and hold Iran...
Yep.
Don't pooh-pooh the idea that the current crew might try to invade Iran. Yeah, I do think that on some level Bush thinks this is a game of sorts - one he personally risks no blood or personal danger in. I don't think he cares about shedding other peoples' blood.
No way. They would never try it, because they couldn't hold her. As you said, not enough resources. The current admin seriously underestimated Iraq; they would not make the same mistake with Iran. Those Hawks were suffering from delusions of grandeur, but they are very much awake now, and they aren't stupid.
BoredShirtless wrote:Do you really think the US would risk the economic backlash geenrated by nuking a country [or carpet bombing, whatever] with so much recent foreign investment?
Do you think Europe would risk the economic backlash generated by cutting the United States' economy out? You can't just sanction the US. It has too much influence on the global economy.
Damien Sorresso
"Ever see what them computa bitchez do to numbas? It ain't natural. Numbas ain't supposed to be code, they supposed to quantify shit."
- The Onion
This while Saudi Arabia is granted amnesty for and blocking us from accessing AQ assholes who turn themselves in?
