Op-Ed: Misleading Media Headlines Malign President, Again

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We all saw the headlines last week, as our media lined up saying once again how Bush lied about Saddam’s Hussein’s ties to Al Qaeda. From the New York Times we saw, Study Finds No Qaeda Hussein Tie.

Fox News said, Pentagon Study of 600,000 Iraqi Documents Finds No Link Between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.

McLatchy Newspapers reported, Exhaustive review finds no link between Saddam and al Qaida.

The Washington Post was a bit more benevolent with, Study Discounts Hussein, Al-Qaeda Link.

CNN treated us to, Hussein's Iraq and al Qaeda not linked, Pentagon says.

ABC declared, No link between Saddam and Al Qaeda: Pentagon.

And on it went, the media once again lining up to discredit President Bush and the Battle in Iraq. Knowing that the average reader rarely reads the entire article, slyly buried in nearly every article was something to the tune of,

“Among other findings, the report said that Mr. Hussein’s government provided support to other regional and international terrorist operations.”

One newspaper, the New York Sun, seemed to be honest in their assessment when they published, Report Details Saddam’s Terrorist Ties, telling us early in the article,

“The report, released this week by the Institute for Defense Analyses, says it found no "smoking gun" linking Iraq operationally to Al Qaeda. But it does say Saddam collaborated with known Al Qaeda affiliates and a wider constellation of Islamist terror groups.”

Once the declassified portion of the report was made public, The Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes wrote, Saddam's Dangerous Friends, What a Pentagon review of 600,000 Iraqi documents tells us, outlining extensive ties to terrorists and organizations loosely and directly affiliated with Al Qaeda and much more.

On page 15 of the summary, in the middle of one paragraph we read what the Bush hating media based their Headlines on, where it says, “This study found no "smoking gun" (i.e., direct connection) between Saddam's Iraq and al Qaeda.”

Surrounding that lone sentence, though, is two paragraphs showing a different picture,

“The Iraqi Perspectives Project (IPP) review of captured Iraqi documents uncovered strong evidence that links the regime of Saddam Hussein to regional and global terrorism. Despite their incompatible long-term goals, many terrorist movements and Saddam found a common enemy in the United States. At times these organizations worked together, trading access for capability. In the period after the 1991 Gulf War, the regime of Saddam Hussein supported a complex and increasingly disparate mix of pan-Arab revolutionary causes and emerging pan-Islamic radical movements. The relationship between Iraq and forces of pan-Arab socialism was well known and was in fact one of the defining qualities of the Ba'ath movement.”

“But the relationships between Iraq and the groups advocating radical pan-Islamic doctrines are much more complex. This study found no "smoking gun" (i.e., direct connection) between Saddam's Iraq and al Qaeda. Saddam's interest in, and support for, non-state actors was spread across a variety of revolutionary, liberation, nationalist, and Islamic terrorist organizations. Some in the regime recognized the potential high internal and external costs of maintaining relationships with radical Islamic groups, yet they concluded that in some cases, the benefits of association outweighed the risks. A review of available Iraqi documents indicated the following:”

Here the study outlined several links to terrorists and terror organizations either directly working with Al Qaeda or indirectly supporting Al Qaeda. Page 54 says,

“When attacking Western interests, the competitive terror cartel came into play, particularly in the late 1990s. Captured documents reveal that the regime was willing to co-opt or support organizations it knew to be part of al Qaeda-as long as that organization's near-term goals supported Saddam's longterm vision.”

Page 62 of the report reveals,

“Saddam’s interest in, and support for, non-Iraqi non-state actors was spread across a wide variety of revolutionary, liberation, nationalist, and Islamic terrorist organizations. For years, Saddam maintained training camps for foreign “fighters” drawn from these diverse groups. In some cases, particularly for Palestinians, Saddam was also a strong financial supporter. Saddam supported groups that either associated directly with al Qaeda (such as the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, led at one time by bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri) or that generally shared al Qaeda's stated goals and objectives.”

Clearly, President Bush and members of his administration did not lie and after the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001, it would have been utterly irresponsible to have ignored the possibility of those ties to terrorists resulting in terrorists obtaining what the entire world reported Saddam held.

Most distressing and despicable, in this writer’s opinion, is the irresponsible reporting of events and findings as this by our media in their effort to undermine a sitting president and a successful execution of a very necessary battle against terror in Iraq or elsewhere.

Puzzling is why the Bush administration remains mum as these misleading headlines are spread and many citizens buy in to them. As Stephen Hayes said, “What good is the truth if nobody knows it?”

As imperfect as he is and in spite of mistakes made, he deserves credit for finally facing up to terrorists and tackling them head-on, instead of assuming they'll just stop. It cannot be forgotten that ever since we were blind-sided that early September morning, terrorists have not succeeded in attacking American again.

Former enemies have stated that the discord they saw within the country is what led them to hang on and wear American will down to defeat America and spread communism. Today’s enemy sees that same discord once again and realizes all they need do is continue inflicting American casualties to wear down public opinion and win, enslaving Iraqi’s and Afghani’s in something much worse that communism, that will spread to our shores again.

Our Troops fighting over there to give Middle Eastern Muslims a chance to form a free society and to keep terrorists from our shores deserve better then to have our media supporting our enemies, either directly or indirectly.