Bush Sez: No Evidence That Saddam Hussein Involved in 9-11 Attacks

[This, of course, proves that 70% of Americans are dumber than a sack
of hammers. -Ed.]

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Bush Says No Evidence That Saddam Hussein Involved in Sept. 11 Attacks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer
The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 17, 2003; 5:34 PM

President Bush said Wednesday there was no evidence that Saddam
Hussein was involved in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 --
disputing an idea held by many Americans.

"There's no question that Saddam Hussein had al-Qaida ties," the
president said. But he also said, "We have no evidence that Saddam
Hussein was involved with the Sept. 11" attacks.

The president's comment was in line with a statement Tuesday by
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who said he not seen any evidence
that Saddam was involved in the attacks.

Yet, a recent Post poll found that nearly 70 percent of respondents
believed the Iraqi leader probably was personally involved. Rumsfeld
said, "I've not seen any indication that would lead me to believe that
I could say that."

The administration has argued that Saddam's government had close links
to al Qaeda, the terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden that
masterminded the Sept. 11 attacks.

On Sunday, for example, Vice President Dick Cheney said that success
in stabilizing and democratizing Iraq would strike a major blow at the
"the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault
for many years, but most especially on 9-11."

And Tuesday, in an interview on ABC's "Nightline," White House
national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said that one of the
reasons Bush went to war against Saddam was because he posed a threat
in "a region from which the 9-11 threat emerged."

In an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," Cheney was asked whether
he was surprised that more than two-thirds of Americans in a
Washington Post poll would express a belief that Iraq was behind the
attacks.

"No, I think it's not surprising that people make that connection," he
replied.

Rice, asked about the same poll numbers, said, "We have never claimed
that Saddam Hussein had either direction or control of 9-11."