The report is dated 01.16.06. Loose shit?

I don't doubt a word, though.

Each of those Iraqi-trained 8,000 terrorists is a weapon of mass destruction!

The main problem is that the documents show that terrorists with "links" or "close ties" to al Qaeda trained in Iraq.

Most of the BDS crowd probably wouldn't be happy unless we were able to dig up some sort of formal treaty signed by Saddam and OBL, and even then, they'd Question the Timing.™

Let's face it, folks, no matter what happens in Iraq, the left is going to howl for Bush's head because of lies, Halliburton, and whatever else they can come up with when it suits them.

I just bought a book and a set of CDs to teach myself Arabic earlier today. I won't be any help this time around, but who knows...I may be able to help post-Syria.

That will be bad news for the liberal left-wing news media and especialy all those liberals out there

The Salman Pak info. came out pre-invasion, but nobody seemed to really dig into the story and see if there was anything there.

As far as shouting it from the rooftops; I would imagine Saddam's regime took very good records of who was there and when, and where they came from, etc.

Others with experience know better than me; is it possible that much of this info. is going to stay classified for a long time?

In fairness to Stephen Hayes, he has been chasing this story for some time and dangling interesting tidbits such as this. The problem is stated right in his story:

Nearly three years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, only 50,000 of these 2 million "exploitable items" have been thoroughly examined. That's 2.5 percent.

There is a shortage of Arabic speaking translators and a lack of focus on getting this done. Now a president who was constantly worrying about his "legacy" might make this more of a priority but Bush seems content to let it dribble out.

Those who have taken the time to read up on terrorism in the middle east, Dore Gold's Hatred's Kingdom and Con Coughlin's Saddam:King of Terror are two great ones, knows of the long and twisted tentacles of terrorism throughout the middle east. Not just al-Qaeda who I bet 99% of America hadn't even heard of pre-9/11. But many different extremist groups all with one thing in common, hatred of the west and Israel.

Those who are unwilling to see this for political reason won't ever be satisfied. They have now built a model that says unless Hussein and bin Laden are the same person there were no ties to terrorism. Its a stupid, frightening and childish view of the world and its why I hope the democrats never regain power.

Years ago I saw a BBC documentary on PBS about this special Iraqi program. I can't recall it's name anymore, it was something like "Squad 99" or what not. Anyhow, the entire point of the program was to train terrorists, who would then go out into the region and beyond (some as far as sub-Saharan Africa) to cause chaos and disorder in their countries of origin.

Anytime I have ever mentioned this program to someone, nobody knows what I'm talking about. Saddam-apologists claim it's just a neocon myth, and everyone else just doesn't know about it.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Frankly, it's crazy that decisions are governed by how they might affect the BDS crowd. It's like structuring your life around the whims of your demented grandmother: at some point, you just have to say Enough! and do what you know is right.

In this case, the right thing to do is to scan the documents, put them on on-line, and let the collective intelligence of the Internet's millions of users take care of translation, cataloguing and cross-referencing. William F. Buckley once said that he'd rather be ruled by 50 people chosen at random from the Boston phone book than by the collected faculty of Harvard University; in the same way, it wouldn't shock me if Net users together did a better job of handling these documents than would the experts at the CIA and NSA.

No doubt there will be stuff in there that's embarrassing to the United States - our hands are not entirely clean with regard to Saddam - but so what? Truth is our principal ally in winning this war; let's have more of it.

middleroad,

Dated 16 Jan 06 because that's the date of the hard-copy issue.

A-10,
Which base are you at?

Tom M

Tom M.,

I'm retired. Did 4 yrs in the USMC and 20+ in the MI Army National Guard (16 of those on Active Duty). Retired as a LTC in 2000. Now I'm the Exec Dir for the DoD Employer Support program for Michigan.

The "A-10" is a play on my last name "Aten", although I think the "Warthog" is an awesome aircraft. We have a squadron of them in Battle Creek and I know several of the pilots (many of whom participated in the initial drive into Iraq).

I'm fortunate to be able to interact almost daily with the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coasties who have served and have returned to their civilian lives.

PS: The threads with the Thomas Jefferson "quotes" were about the funniest threads I have ever read (and I'm a regular reader of the BlameBush blog).

Welcome aboard, A-10.

The Cheny thread may amuse you, too.

My mother-in-Law just retired from the ANG at Bradley (A-10s). She was an E-9 and ran the clinic. She used to talk about how the toughest MASH practice deployments were in MI. The fishing was great, though.

"Givens" on the thanks for your service, by the way.

I missed the thread, until long after it died, but my favorite quote from history:

"This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. It just might be, however, the end of the beginning"

Winston Churchill, on hour three of his linear tour of Dick Cheney's cock.

Bart,

Thanks for the Cheney link. Missed that one.

During a previous life (when I was in the USMC), I was on the Security Detail at Camp David during the Ford Administration. Although President Ford was protrayed as a bumbling idiot in the MSM, he was very gratious whenever he came up to "The Hill". We also had visits from SecDef Rumsfeld (he was SecDef then also). He was also a great guy and very respectful of the service of those in support of the WH.

Now the Carters were a different breed. Jimmy threatened to close Camp David (thought it was to "elite"). Kind of ironic that his "legacy" was the Camp David Accords.

President Ford was a great athlete in his youth, yet the media, as you said, portrayed him as a clumsy oaf. He's doing well at 92.

Ford was Capt of the U of M Football team (MVP in 1934) and was scouted by the pros (I don't hold it against him - I'm a huge MSU fan). Had offers from the Lion and Packers to play pro. But chose politics and were to Yale for his law degree.

It's amazing that he's still going strong at 92.

If you still haven't figured out Stephen Hayes' game, after all these years -- when even the Bush admin prefers Curveball and Chalabi over him -- there's probably no hope for you.

Hayes build nice looking arguments out of sheer BS: testimonies of unreliable sources looking for a payout, etc.

I bet you're struggling with that report that 80% of US fatalities in Iraq would have survived with proper body armor. Catch the Pentagon reaction on that one?

Stoning would be too good for the crooks behind this.