Bush: Bin Laden tried to start Iraq unit

[nitestar41]

Source: AP

Bush: Bin Laden ordered non-Iraq attacks

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 43 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Seeking to rally support for the war, President Bush released intelligence asserting that Osama bin Laden in 2005 ordered creation of a terrorist unit to hit targets outside Iraq, including the United States.

<snip>

The bulletin, which warned that bin Laden had enlisted Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, his senior operative in Iraq, to plan potential strikes in the United States, was described at the time as credible but not specific. It did not prompt the administration to raise its national terror alert level.

<snip>

The Bush White House in the past has declassified and made public sensitive intelligence information to help rebut critics or defend programs or decisions against possibly adverse decisions in the Congress or the courts. On a few occasions, the declassified materials were intended to be proof that terrorists see Iraq as a critical staging ground for global operations.

Democrats and other critics have accused Bush of selectively declassifying intelligence, including portions of a sensitive National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, to justify the U.S.-led invasion on grounds Saddam Hussein's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. That assertion proved false.

<snip>



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070523/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_terrorism

---

Are there really people out there who are buying into this still?

I'm getting tired of "pieces" of intelligence being released to attempt to show *him* in a positive light. The only reason they aren't willing to release everything is because it'll show the true abuse of power *he* has used. *he* says we can't let the terrorists know what we do and I say it's time to put up or shut up.

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. If you have intelligence, set it free...

If it comes back, then you were smart. If it does not, then you have no intelligence and are thus qualified for a position in the Current Regime.

[LynnTheDem]

2. George bUsh, BRAGGING how he AIDED & ABETTED terrorists such as al Qaeda

In 2005. AFTER bush invaded Iraq. AFTER bush got rid of the one man who for 30 years kept terrorists & extremists out of Iraq.

With npothing else to be proud of, George bUsh is PROUD of how he's aided & abbetted terrorists in setting up shop in Iraq.

[truthisfreedom]

3. *yawn* They have to come up with a scarier name then that of a dead guy on dialysis.

They wore out osama's stupid name a couple of years ago. He's no boogie-man anymore.

[MUAD_DIB]

4. Osama is *'s Tonton Macoute. He'll keep brining up the vissage of

Uncle Gunnysack to keep the rednecks in line. Keep em good 'n scared of OSAMA911IRAQ.

[htuttle]

5. But remember, per Tony Snow, he's NOT saying Iraq and Al Queda are connected!

"He's never said that", according to Snowjob's press conference yesterday...

:eyes:

[Rob H.]

6. Convenient how he neglects to mention

that this proves that the intelligence community was exactly right when it warned ShrubCo that going into Iraq would foment more terrorism!

[State the Obvious]

7. So...Bush chose THIS 2005 report to illustrate his reasons for prolonging the war? ....

...while Bush completely IGNORED the August memo "Bin Laden Determined to Attack the United States"???

If you hold the two reports together, couldn't we say that Bush has PROVEN his own INcompetence? :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

[Rydz777]

8. "Bush releasing intelligence" Oh, that's too easy. I pass. eom.

[Midlodemocrat]

9. Breaking News: Bush claims Bin Laden tried to start Iraq unit

Source: ABCnews.com

President Bush, stressing that Americans face an ongoing threat from terrorists, shared intelligence on Wednesday asserting that Osama bin Laden was working in 2005 to set up a unit inside Iraq to hit U.S. targets.

Much of the information Bush cited in a commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy described terrorism plots already revealed, but he fleshed out details and highlighted U.S. successes in foiling planned attacks since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.


"In the minds of al-Qaida leaders, 9-11 was just a downpayment on violence yet to come," Bush said on a bright, sunny day at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy commencement, held at a stadium along the Thames River. "It is tempting to believe that the calm here at home after 9-11 means that the danger to our country has passed."

"The danger has not passed. Here in America, we are living in the eye of a storm," he said, depicting the struggle in Iraq as a battle between the United States and al-Qaida. "All around us, dangerous winds are swirling and these winds could reach our shores at any moment."

Bush said that intelligence showed that in January 2005





Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3204572/

---

What a pathetic POS he is.

[Duer 157099]

10. ...and who's responsible for bin Laden still being free?

just asking

[SusanaMontana41]

17. Bingo

n/t

[Straight Shooter]

11. Mr. Katrina has a helluva nerve using hurricane metaphors in his rhetoric. n/t

[Kikosexy2]

24. Big windbag...

blowing fear into the air...ooohhh! Bin Laden still at large...ooga booga! Did Monica's testimony suck (no pun intended)...

[snappyturtle]

12. Fear, fear, fear!! I fear him MORE than Osama.....maybe he ought

to start playing nice and some of our problems will go away..........of course, it will probably take a millenium now.

[Fridays Child]

13. I wonder who wrote this extraordinary bit of fearmongering...

"All around us, dangerous winds are swirling and these winds could reach our shores at any moment."

[RaleighNCDUer]

21. Someone with an overdeveloped sense of irony?

Naw. Not in THIS crowd.

[Midlodemocrat]

25. Seriously. What a talent that writer has.

:eyes:

[tandot]

14. In 2005? After Bush invaded Iraq which allowed al-Qaida to get into Iraq in the first place?

Without Bush, al-Qaida would NOT be in Iraq right now.

[alphafemale]

15. Why would anyone believe the words that fall out of that mouth? nt

[Norquist Nemesis]

16. Is he paranoid, delusional, or just plain lying again

He simply reminds me of the hellfire and brimstone false prophets, except he has his finger on the newkYOUlur trigger.

[tiptoe]

18. Bush + "Intelligence" == BIG LIE (and oxymoron) nt

[ShortnFiery]

19. "What a pathetic POS he is." Yeah, too bad our M$N continues to prop him up.

As long as the M$M props him up, our Idiot King can have a 20% approval rating and "get buy" seemingly FOREVER! :crazy:

After all, Tweety, Wolf and Hannity tell us that DimSon is truly "The Decider." :puke:

Who's gonna impeach the treasonous Unitary Executive Branch? Not our spineless Democratic Representatives.

If we keep the status quo and our gutless Democratic Reps stay on course ---> We're FUCKED!

It's time to take back BOTH The Press and OUR Congress (for the people not the political elites invested in the WAR Machine Corporations). :thumbsup:

Many protests are to come. It's going to be a long, cold winter of discontent ... perhaps for an entire generation ... perhaps we will be unable to counter *USA's budding fascism* complements of The Military Industrial Complex.

[Kagemusha]

20. Since Dems want to fight Al Qaeda not in Iraq, he's turned Iraq into Al Qaeda

so now we have to keep fighting in Iraq... forever.

[blueworld]

22. After * laid out the red carpet to Baghdad? Our soldiers blood n/t

[libodem]

23. Oh, horse pucky

I think he makes this stuff up. The hotter things become in the DOJ the more faked-up, manufactured, propaganda we are likely to have pumped to us. Terra Alert: Red!!!!!!!!!! F him

[rsmith6621]

26. When Do We Start Impeachment

This administration has produced so much bull$hit that it will take decadeds of shoveling to clean it up...the sooner we start the sooner we finish......OH!!!!..I forgot...The DEMS want things just as they are....

[progressivebydesign]

31. Bush declassifies anything ROVE tells him to declassify...

with no concern for the safety of Americans. He disgusts me.

[triguy46]

32. Whippin' the tired old 'terra! terra!' horse. n/t

[yellowcanine]

27. Well yes - what the war critics have been saying all along - If the U.S. invades Iraq,

Al Quaeda will use Iraq for a training ground for their fighters. How does recognizing that do anything except comfirm that Bush is a fuck up?

[SKKY]

34. At least it shows the POTUS has a firm grasp on the painfully obvious?

:shrug:

[AikidoSoul]

28. Bush*t is paving the way to get us ready for the next "attack" which will likely

"created" by the Busheviks as villification for all the fear-mongering that people are sick of. He can say "I told you so" and it will further add flames to the Iraq War. If they do commit such an atrocity it would also distract the country from the growing evidence that many top Repugs could be not only impeached, but indicted.

Get this: Bush*it gave himself new powers earlier this month in case of a major "emergency" or "attack". He now "entrusts himself with leading the entire federal governemtn, not just the Executive Branch. And he gives himself the responsibility 'for ensuring constitutional government'". (see link to story below)

Since Bush*t got rid of Posse Comitaus earlier this year -- he now has total control of the National Guard and federalized troops (can he issue an executive order and designate the Blackwater crew as "federalized"?

That would be scarier than shit. USA's version of brownshirts.

And... you can be sure that the MSM ignored reporting on these new powers.

****************************************
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052107T.shtml


Bush Anoints Himself as the Ensurer of Constitutional Government in Emergency
By Matthew Rothschild
The Progressive

Friday 18 May 2007

In a new National Security Presidential Directive, Bush lays out his plans for dealing with a "catastrophic emergency."
With scarcely a mention in the mainstream media, President Bush has ordered up a plan for responding to a catastrophic attack.

Under that plan, he entrusts himself with leading the entire federal government, not just the Executive Branch. And he gives himself the responsibility "for ensuring constitutional government."

He laid this all out in a document entitled "National Security Presidential Directive/NSPD 51" and "Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-20."

The White House released it on May 9.

Other than a discussion on Daily Kos led off by a posting by Leo Fender, and a pro-forma notice in a couple of mainstream newspapers, this document has gone unremarked upon.

The subject of the document is entitled "National Continuity Policy."

It defines a "catastrophic emergency" as "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government function."

This could mean another 9/11, or another Katrina, or a major earthquake in California, I imagine, since it says it would include "localized acts of nature, accidents, and technological or attack-related emergencies."

The document emphasizes the need to ensure "the continued function of our form of government under the Constitution, including the functioning of the three separate branches of government," it states.

But it says flat out: "The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government."

SNIP

[nitestar41]

35. Say it isn't so....

It's the first step in something I fear occurring more then anything. What is to stop him from declaring an emergency?

I think I need to put my head between my legs and kiss my a** goodbye. :hide:

Things aren't going his way. Hmmm... maybe this is why the Democrats have backed down on the war funding, Bush has appointed himself king, ummm... that's right Ensurer, if there is an emergency. There are a lot of times I worry about the country that will be left when all this is over, what will our children think of this mess?

[Zenlitened]

29. And yet, in that very same year, he disbanded the CIA unit searching for OBL. Why?

Credit to DUers zbdent and Prosense for this find:

CIA shuts down secret unit that hunted for bin Laden
Spy agency feels al Qaeda is now less hierarchical

Mark Mazzetti, New York Times (republished in SF Chronicle)
Tuesday, July 4, 2006

Washington -- The CIA has closed down a secret unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials said Monday.

The terrorist tracking unit, known inside the spy agency as "Alec station," was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned to other offices within the CIA's Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.

(snip)

The realignment reflects a view that al Qaeda is no longer as hierarchical as it once was, intelligence officials said, as well as growing concern about al Qaeda-inspired groups that have begun carrying out attacks independent of bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

CIA officials said that tracking bin Laden and his deputies remains a high priority and that the decision to disband the unit is not a sign that the effort has slackened. Instead, the officials said, the realignment reflects a belief that the agency can better deal with high-level threats by focusing on regional trends rather than on specific organizations or individuals.

See thread by Prosense here, and please recommend it for the Greatest Page:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=949597&mesg_id=949597

[CJCRANE]

30. They can use everything and anything

to show * in a positive light because the neocons believe in "creating reality".

They have no honor, no shame, no integrity - they have cast themselves as the heroes in a make-believe global war and their task is to enforce that view on everyone else by any means necessary.

[Up2Late]

33. Total BS!

I've been searching for any credible (impossible to fake) evidence that Bin Laden is still alive for several years now and have found NOTHING! Not one speck of Credible evidence that he was still alive after December 2001.:grr:

[Pastiche423]

36. That's because OBL died in December 2001