In a message dated 11/17/03 8:35:14 PM, acreem@... writes:
<< Very interesting, Michael. Any idea why the administration would have
kept this information secret for so long, in the face of embarrassing skepticism
about such a link, and why it would have been leaked to the Standard, in the
form of a memo written 10/27/03? >>
The answer is simple. If I may break your question into 3 parts:
1) "Any idea why the administration would have kept this information secret
for so long"
The information/inteligence contained in the memo is nothing really new, only
more detailed, conclusive, and corroborated by multiple sources. Colin
Powell, in his February 5, 2003, presentation to the U.N. Security Council, revealed
the activities of Abu Musab al Zarqawi as well as other connections between
Sadam and Bin Ladin. In any number of his speeches, President Bush outlined the
many connections as well. I'm not sure why you think it is "new"
information...it's the same information we've been told for months now by the antiwar
people that it's either wrong or exaggerated. Now we know that's not the truth.
2) "in the face of embarrassing skepticism about such a link"
The only thing embarrassing is how so many people were duped by the antiwar
misinformation propaganda campaign.
I might ad, I don't condone leaking of classified information. Such activity
is deplorable and can do serious harm to national security. The leak was
obviously an attempt to put to rest the claim that there was no relationship
between Saddam and al Qaeda, and that administration claims to the contrary were
either wrong or exaggerated.
3) "why it would have been leaked to the Standard, in the form of a memo
written 10/27/03?"
True the memo was dated October 27, 2003. Feith, the Undersecretary of
Defense for Policy, sent the memo in response to a request from the Senate
Intelligence committee as part of its investigation into prewar intelligence claims
made by the administration. Feith had been asked to support his July 10th
closed-door testimony about such connections. This is how long these things usually
take in Washington. My guess is, this memo was leaked to The Weekly Standard
because if it had been leaked to the mainstream media, we would never hear about
it.
p.s. It's notable that this is the second memo leaked in the past 2 weeks
that's connected to Senator Jay Rockefeller, the democratic chairman of the
Senate Intelligence Committee.
Live free or die, Michael S.
Michael R. Sawyer
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