Backtracking from "brainless" comment, Hatch inadvertently pans UAE deal

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON - Sen. Orrin Hatch backpedaled Tuesday from a recent claim he made asserting that deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was supporting al-Qaida, and that "Nobody with brains" would deny the connec- tion.
....
Hatch said he has referred repeatedly to meetings between Iraqi intelligence and al-Qaida throughout the 1990s.
"This was association and not collaboration, as the Senate Intelligence Committee's July 2004 report makes clear. But after 9/11, this association with the No. 1 terror group was a major concern for responsible policymakers," Hatch said.

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3533814

UAE royals, bin Laden's saviours
March 25, 2004 12:04 IST
The Central Intelligence Agency did not target Al Qaeda chief Osama bin laden once as he had the royal family of the United Arab Emirates with him in Afghanistan, the agency's director, George Tenet, told the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States on Thursday.

Had the CIA targeted bin Laden, half the royal family would have been wiped out as well, he said.

http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/mar/25osama.htm


In regards to the port deal, one might ask Ornery Orrin to explain why one Middle Eastern country has been held to a different standard than another Great British company Middle Eastern country.

[Doctor_J]

1. How does a man of Hatch's age

manage to do so many back flips without putting himself in traction?