Ex-M15 spy chief: No link between Iraq and 9/11

[MargueriteBee]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100720/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_iraq_inquiry

LONDON – British and U.S. intelligence had no credible evidence of a link between Saddam Hussein and the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States before the 2003 Iraq invasion, the ex-head of Britain's domestic spy agency told the country's inquiry into the war Tuesday.

Eliza Manningham-Buller, director of the MI5 between 2002 and 2007, said that nothing to connect the attacks to Baghdad was discovered ahead of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The ex-spy chief also said the war caused allies to lose focus on the al-Qaida threat in Afghanistan, emboldened Osama bin Laden and led to the radicalization of a generation of homegrown British extremists.

Manningham-Buller said those pushing the case for war in the United States gave undue prominence to scraps of inconclusive intelligence on possible links between Iraq and the 2001 attacks, singling out the then-U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"There was no credible intelligence to suggest that connection and that was the judgment, I might say, of the CIA," she told the inquiry. "It was not a judgment that found favor with some parts of the American machine."

She suggested the dispute led Rumsfeld to disregard CIA intelligence in favor of work produced by his own department.

"It is why Donald Rumsfeld started an alternative intelligence unit in the Pentagon to seek an alternative judgment," said Manningham-Buller, who was a frequent visitor to the U.S. as MI5 chief.

"To my mind, Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11 and I have never seen anything to make me change my mind," she said.

[Fredkc]

My first reaction (being a fan of Judy Dench):
WOW!! "M" really was a woman! cool!

ok, back to serious;
"To my mind, Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11 and I have never seen anything to make me change my mind," she said.
This was a known, from gitgo!

This war on terrorism is bogus (http://fredsitelive.com/reference/Bogus_War.htm)
By Michael Meacher
Michael Meacher MP was environment minister from May 1997 to June 2003 meacherm@parliament.uk

The Stovepipe (http://fredsitelive.com/personal/CurEvents/TheStovePipe.html)
How conflicts between the Bush Administration and the intelligence community marred the reporting on Iraq’s weapons.
By Seymor Hersh

I have reams on this, but those two should nail any thoughts of a "just Iraq war" to a tree.
___________________________

and... if you think Iran is any different...

The Secret History of the Impending War with Iran (http://fredsitelive.com/reference/Secret_History_Iran_War.htm)
That the White House Doesn't Want You to Know

Lemme hit some highlights for ya...

But the important thing is that the Iranians agreed to talk unconditionally, Mann says. "They specifically told me time and again that they were doing this because they understood the impact of this attack on the U.S., and they thought that if they helped us unconditionally, that would be the way to change the dynamic for the first time in twenty-five years."
Here I note that these talks began on 9/12/2001 and continued way into 2003!


A few weeks later, after signing on to Condoleezza Rice's staff as the new Iran expert in the National Security Council, Mann flew to Europe with Ryan Crocker -- then a deputy assistant secretary of state -- to hold talks with a team of Iranian diplomats. Meeting in a light-filled conference room at the old UN building in Geneva, they hammered out plans for Iranian help in the war against the Taliban.

And they weren't just playing, either....

One day during the U.S. bombing campaign, Mann and her Iranian counterparts were sitting around the wooden conference table speculating about the future Afghani constitution. Suddenly the Iranian who knew so much about intelligence matters started pounding on the table. "Enough of that!" he shouted, unfurling a map of Afghanistan. Here was a place the Americans needed to bomb. And here, and here, he angrily jabbed his finger at the map.

Here you find the smoking gun of just who was being dis-ingenuous:

Then came the moment that would lead to an extraordinary battle with the Bush administration. It was an average morning in April 2003, about four weeks into the war. Mann picked up her daily folder and sat down at her desk, glancing at a fax cover page. The fax was from the Swiss ambassador to Iran, which wasn't unusual -- since the U.S. had no formal relationship with Iran, the Swiss ambassador represented American interests there and often faxed over updates on what he was doing. This time he'd met with Sadeq Kharrazi, a well-connected Iranian who was the nephew of the foreign minister and son-in-law to the supreme leader. Amazingly, Kharrazi had presented the ambassador with a detailed proposal for peace in the Middle East, approved at the highest levels in Tehran.

A two-page summary was attached. Scanning it, Mann was startled by one dramatic concession after another -- "decisive action" against all terrorists in Iran, an end of support for Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, a promise to cease its nuclear program, and also an agreement to recognize Israel.
Ok... got that ?
Iran offered in writing to basically withdraw from every practice we now want to threaten war over! 90% of the "middle east problem" solved!

What did we offer as a response?
We threatened to nuke them, of course.
NO POLITICIAN in the west wants peace in the mid-east, anymore than the ones living there!

Until the US gets a Congress willing to de-fund this ridiculous crap, or the people rise up and make their objection to Vietnam look like a Quaker's wife saying, "Not tonight, dear", this folly is going to keep building until it eats us alive.

Fred

[illuminate]

My first reaction (being a fan of Judy Dench):
WOW!! "M" really was a woman! cool!

ok, back to serious;
This was a known, from gitgo!

This war on terrorism is bogus (http://fredsitelive.com/reference/Bogus_War.htm)
By Michael Meacher
Michael Meacher MP was environment minister from May 1997 to June 2003 meacherm@parliament.uk

The Stovepipe (http://fredsitelive.com/personal/CurEvents/TheStovePipe.html)
How conflicts between the Bush Administration and the intelligence community marred the reporting on Iraq’s weapons.
By Seymor Hersh

I have reams on this, but those two should nail any thoughts of a "just Iraq war" to a tree.
___________________________

and... if you think Iran is any different...

The Secret History of the Impending War with Iran (http://fredsitelive.com/reference/Secret_History_Iran_War.htm)
That the White House Doesn't Want You to Know

Lemme hit some highlights for ya...

Here I note that these talks began on 9/12/2001 and continued way into 2003!



And they weren't just playing, either....


Here you find the smoking gun of just who was being dis-ingenuous:

Ok... got that ?
Iran offered in writing to basically withdraw from every practice we now want to threaten war over! 90% of the "middle east problem" solved!

What did we offer as a response?
We threatened to nuke them, of course.
NO POLITICIAN in the west wants peace in the mid-east, anymore than the ones living there!

Until the US gets a Congress willing to de-fund this ridiculous crap, or the people rise up and make their objection to Vietnam look like a Quaker's wife saying, "Not tonight, dear", this folly is going to keep building until it eats us alive.

Fred

NICE POST!!!
:love:

[Moemers]

I still think Jim Marrs has the best explanation for the invasion of Iraq.

[conk]

Many reasons for the invasion. Geographical position, oil, control, greed and money for weapons makers, and Iraq's lack of central banking. What was Marrs' thought?