Dumbya's war-mongering propoganda machine goes into high gear

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LOL! The spin machine to get Dumbya his war is going at full tilt! Here we see a report from an intelligence official that Al-Qaeda is likely to be operating out of Iran. Dumbya and Dr. Strangelove Rumsfeld hear about it, and 6 hours later we get the same story with Iraq added in for a little extra spice! How convenient for them, especially since they have absolutely no evidence whatsoever, bwaaahahahaha!!

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Reports: Al-Qaida Operating in Iran

Wed Aug 28, 9:54 AM ET

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States has received reports that al-Qaida leaders Saif al-Adl and Abu Hafs the Mauritanian are alive and operating in eastern Iran, but have not verified them, a U.S. official said Wednesday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to comment on the origin of the intelligence reports to U.S. counter-terrorism authorities.

Abu Hafs, a key spiritual counselor in al-Qaida also known as Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, had previously been reported killed earlier this year in Afghanistan ( news - web sites). But the U.S. had received some earlier inconclusive reports that he was still alive.

Al-Adl, bin Laden's security chief, was thought to be taking over operations following the death of Mohammed Atef, bin Laden's top military commander. An Egyptian national affiliated with Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Adl is on the FBI ( news - web sites)'s Most Wanted List, sought in connection with the 1998 east Africa embassy bombings. He is thought to be a key organizer of those attacks.

It's unclear to what degree the government of Iran is sanctioning the presence of al-Qaida within its territory, said a U.S. defense official, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

Another al-Qaida leader named Abu Musab Zarqawi went to Iran after the U.S. war started in Afghanistan, but is believed to have left the country.

The story was first reported by The Washington Post in Wednesday's editions. The newspaper cited Arab intelligence sources as saying the pair was planning al-Qaida operations from Iran.

The Post said the two have assumed operational control of the committee that directs terrorist attacks. They also direct the network's religious committee, which issues statements to justify attacks, it said.

The report appeared to support the Bush administration's contention that Iranian hard-liners who control the military and intelligence services are working with al-Qaida.

A spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations ( news - web sites) told the Post that al-Adl and Walid are in Iran and added that "Iran's policy is not to permit such people to enter Iran."

The intelligence sources cited by the Post also said that al-Qaida had planned attacks in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Persian Gulf this year, including a plan to attack U.S. ships in Bahrain.

************ 2nd story, with extra ingredients added

U.S. says Iran, Iraq may be hideouts for al Qaeda heads

Iranian government says no al Qaeda operatives are there

August 28, 2002 Posted: 4:08 PM EDT (2008 GMT)

From Barbara Starr C

NN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Intelligence sources said Wednesday they now believe that ranking al Qaeda figures could be among the terrorists hiding in Iran and Iraq, CNN has learned.

For weeks, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said there are al Qaeda operatives in both countries, and it's known that the government in Iran recently expelled some of those terrorists to Saudi Arabia.

But an update from what's described as an "intelligence assessment" says there now are top-tier al Qaeda members in Iran, just over the border from Afghanistan.

Al Qaeda provided much of the muscle behind Afghanistan's former Taliban regime, which was purged during the United States' response to the terrorist attacks of September 11. The group and its leader, Osama bin Laden, are linked to those attacks.

Experts are split on whether bin Laden or other al Qaeda kingpins have taken refuge in Iran and Iraq. There has been no known confirmed identification of any high-level operative there.

One ranking al Qaeda member alleged to be in Iran is Mahfouz Ould Walid and nicknamed Abu Hafs the Mauritanian. He is considered a religious voice in al Qaeda, according to U.S. intelligence.

Another possible al Qaeda figure who may be in Iran is Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian national thought to serve as an operational planner with the terrorist group.

Responding to a report in the Washington Post, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Walid and al-Adel are not in Iran. Hamid Reza Assefi, a spokesman for the ministry, said "Iran has all along discharged its responsibilities against terrorism and it is its policy not to provide shelter to al Qaeda members. The two people mentioned in Washington Post are not in Iran. Following its policies, the government of Iran has not allowed terrorists to enter its territory."

Another man, a top al Qaeda operations manager named Abu Musab Zar-Qawi, may be in northern Iraq and shielded by Kurdish militants, according to U.S. intelligence.

-- lol (more bullshit @ evil. and rumors of evil), August 28, 2002

Answers

The Bush administration is by far the most deceptive, lying, corrupt bunch of scumbags I have ever seen in my life. They make the Mafia look like choir boys.

-- (Just say no @ to. lies and corruption), August 28, 2002.

Amid Worldwide Skepticism, Cheney Again Slams Iraq Thu Aug 29, 8:34 PM ET

By Jim Forsyth

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney ( news - web sites) on Thursday hammered home the U.S. case for pre-emptive action against Iraq, brushing off a groundswell of unease among European allies, Muslim states and broader world public opinion.

Cheney used a gathering of Korean War veterans to repeat an earlier indictment of Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites), charging the Iraqi leader with acquiring weapons of mass destruction and posing a "mortal threat" to the United States.

He also downplayed concerns, laid out by some senior members of his Republican Party and echoed abroad, that a U.S. strike could hamper the global war on terrorism and undermine pro-U.S. governments in the Arab world.

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction," Cheney said, reprising a fighting speech he gave on Monday in Nashville, Tennessee. "There is no doubt that he is amassing them to use them against our friends, against our allies and against us," he said.

"The elected leaders of the country have a responsibility to consider all available options and we are doing so. What we must not do in the face of a mortal threat is to give in to wishful thinking or to willful blindness. We must not simply look away, hope for the best and leave the matter for some future administration to resolve," he said.

COOL RECEPTION ABROAD

Cheney's Nashville speech had sparked a fresh round of critical remarks in many states, including close European ally France, which questioned the right under international law of the United States to act unilaterally.

Congress, back next week from its summer recess, has announced hearings on Iraq, inviting senior administration figures to outline their proposed course of action.

A White House spokesman said U.S. officials would cooperate fully with the lawmakers. In July the administration had declined to take part in Senate hearings, saying it did not want to be locked into positions prematurely.

"What is important is that we have an agreement, an essential agreement among the American people, through their elected representatives in Congress, that the country is behind this effort in its own self defense against terrorist acts," House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt told CNN.

Meanwhile, foreign leaders pressed Washington to work with international weapons inspectors to rein in the Iraqi weapons program, and to seek U.N. approval for any future military campaign if inspections failed.

In his remarks on Thursday, Cheney responded to this, recalling what he called the Iraqi "science" of deceiving weapons inspectors in the past and saying a return to Iraq of inspection teams was no guarantee of disarmament.

French President Jacques Chirac said earlier on Thursday he was concerned by what he called a "temptation to seek to legitimize the use of unilateral and pre-emptive force." Any such attack, Chirac said, would require U.N. authorization.

TURMOIL IN ISLAMIC WORLD

Secretary of State Colin Powell ( news - web sites) spoke with German, British and Spanish foreign ministers in the last 24 hours, in part to discuss Iraq, his spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.

Powell was "taking up the fact that Iraq's defiance of the Security Council and development of weapons of mass destruction constitutes a danger that we have to deal with, and discussing with these countries how to deal with that," Boucher said.

Muslim leaders kept a united front of pressure on Washington to avert a strike against Iraq, saying it could unleash fresh turmoil in the Islamic world by widening a gulf between Muslims and the West.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ( news - web sites), both pivotal pro-U.S. figures in the Muslim world, joined the growing chorus of open opposition to proposed U.S. intervention.

White House officials stress no decision has been taken on a proposed military strike, and they have pledged to consult with U.S. allies and regional powers beforehand.

On the campaign trail in support of fellow Republican candidates in Oklahoma City, President Bush ( news - web sites) made no direct mention of U.S. determination to oust the Iraqi leader. But he made it clear Saddam remained on his mind.

"We must not allow the world's worst leaders to develop and harbor the world's worst weapons," Bush said at a fund-raising speech. The remark is his standard stump-speech line generally regarded as referring to Saddam.

-- (Cheney is @ Dick.head), August 29, 2002.


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