GOP Presidential Contenders Use Unproven Iraq-9/11 Tie to Defend Iraq War
by Pamela LeaveyThe GOP frontrunners for the ‘08 presidential nomination are talking Bush trash on the campaign trail, when it comes to defending the Iraq War. Forget that it was all pack of lies in the first place, the contenders are “increasingly echoing words and phrases used by President Bush in the run-up to the war that reinforce the misleading impression that Iraq was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.”
In the May 15 Republican debate in South Carolina, Senator John McCain of Arizona suggested that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden would “follow us home” from Iraq — a comment some viewers may have taken to mean that bin Laden was in Iraq, which he is not.
Former New York mayor Rudolph Guiliani asserted, in response to a question about Iraq, that “these people want to follow us here and they have followed us here. Fort Dix happened a week ago. ”
However, none of the six people arrested for allegedly plotting to attack soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey were from Iraq.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney identified numerous groups that he said have “come together” to try to bring down the United States, though specialists say few of the groups Romney cited have worked together and only some have threatened the United State”They want to bring down the West, particularly us,” Romney declared. “And they’ve come together as Shia and Sunni and Hezbollah and Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda, with that intent.”
Assertions of connections between bin Laden and terrorists in Iraq have heated up over the last month, as Congress has debated the war funding resolution. Romney, McCain, and Giuliani have endorsed — and expanded on — Bush’s much-debated contention that Al Qaeda is the main cause of instability in Iraq.Spokespeople for McCain and Romney say the candidates were expressing their deep-seated convictions that terrorists would benefit if the United States were to withdraw from Iraq. The spokesmen say that even if Iraq had no connection to the Sept. 11 attacks, Al Qaeda-inspired terrorists have infiltrated Iraq as security has deteriorated since the invasion, and now pose a direct threat to the United States.
Critics of the GOP echo chamber critics, “including some former CIA officials, said those statements could mislead voters into believing that the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks are now fighting the United States in Iraq.”
Michael Scheuer, the CIA’s former chief of operations against bin Laden in the late 1990s, said the comments of some GOP candidates seem to suggest that bin Laden is controlling the insurgency in Iraq, which he is not.
“There are at least 41 groups [worldwide] that have announced their allegiance to Osama bin Laden — and I will bet that none of them are directed by Osama bin Laden,” Scheuer said, pointing out that Al Qaeda in Iraq is not overseen by bin Laden.
The truth be damned, the GOP members can not continue to push fear mongering on the American people with out perpetuating the BushCo lies. Do they really think the American public is so deaf and dumb at this point that they are buying into this?
Apparently so, because they echo chamber from the candidates grows louder by the day.
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I don’t particularly like McCain or Giuliani (by the way Giuliani is misspelled in this article), but I watched the debate and I didn’t make any of the false assumptions that it is alleged people would make from the Republicans comments. I though it was clear that they all felt that if we didn’t finish the job in Iraq and stabilize their country, that that would create problems that would reach us here in the USA. Likely it would be seen as a retreat and embolden those who hate our country to attack us at home. Also likely, it would create a vacuum of power where terrorists could move into Iraq and take over making it essentially an anti-American/terrorist outpost.
bjalder26
Well that’s the GOP talking point in a nutshell. Not so likely as the article says.
“Finish the job in Iraq” – define?
“Stabilize their country” – define?
Disparing over the inability to accomplish the impossible may make a fun party game, but it’s a hell of a policy for basing our foreign affairs on.
It’s to bad that presidential candidates cannot be impeached! The penalty for a successful impeachment, for any of these deceptionists, would be the immediate end of their respective campaigns. Any candidate who is spreading such fairy tales would hence be barred from running. Of course, this will never happen.
The damage that “The Decider” has caused to the office of the Presidency is incalcuable. In answer to the postings question, yes, I do believe that a substancial number of Americans are dumb enouugh to fall, hook line and sinker, for these lies once again. (especially red states) Both the electorate and Commander-In Chief, obviously learned nothing from our disastorus involvement in Vietnam. As once stated, “A country which does not learn from it’s mistakes is bound to repeat them” It is obvious that we have duplicated the stupidity in Iraq. If America is dumb enough to hire one of these jokers, the repetition will continue. Wake up America!!!