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Originally Posted by Ustwo
I think it was ELF, can't trust those bastards.
I must say I am really enjoying the new tone in politics, its refreshing.
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Here's "the deal".... there was once a time where any red blooded American would be regarded as "on the fringe" if he espoused an opinion that there were not massive stockpiles of WMD hidden in Iraq or mature WMD development and manufacturing, complete with impressive infrastructure....all yet to be located by UN inspectors led around by Saddam's "minders".
It was considered "on the fringe" to scoff at the accusations that al Zarqawi was al Qaeda, in Baghdad, "before we got there", initially treated for Afghan war wounds in a Baghdad hospital, then operating a terrorist training and "poison camp" in Khermal in Iraq, under the auspices of Saddam and his government.....
Now....I am proposing that it may very well be "on the fringe", given that the "robust evidence", Colin Powell spoke of on Sept. 23, 2001, has never yet been presented, to be of the opinion that Usama bin Laden and al-Qaeda planned and carried out the 9/11 attacks.
It's seven years later...it should be a "slam dunk" to lay out the key things that support your acceptance of the account of official accusations of who the "perps" were.
At least ace made an attempt....he linked to an alleged admission attributed to bin Laden, and he followed up with:
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Originally Posted by aceventura3
It is possible that there is no hard evidence, other than circumstantial evidence, linking him to that order. I know there has been a singular focus by some to find Osama Bin Laden, but the war on terror as conducted by the Bush administration has always had a broader focus.
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But, before the bin Laden statement that ace linked to, there was "the stuff" I included in the OP. Shouldn't it operate at a level independent of the statements later made and attributed to bin Laden and from the confessions of prisoners obtained via torture?
Sept. 23, 2001:
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....DONALDSON: All right. Let me show you something you said the other day, and just see whether you've changed your view on it, concerning proof. You said, "We are assembling the evidence that will tell us, in a way that the world will fully confer with us--concur with us, who is responsible for this."
Are we going to present before the world evidence of Osama bin Laden's guilt?
POWELL: Yes, and I think his guilt is going to be very obvious to the world. I mean, he has been indicted previously for terror activity against the United States, and so this is a continuing pattern of terrorism, and we are putting all of the information that we have together, the intelligence information, the information being generated by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
And I think we will put before the world, the American people, a persuasive case that there will be no doubt when that case is presented that it is al Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, who has been responsible for this terrible tragic (inaudible).
DONALDSON: So you're talking about something beyond simple assertions by U.S. leaders. You're talking about assertions backed up by the evidence.
POWELL: Yes.
DONALDSON: OK....
AND:
..... RUSSERT: Are you absolutely convinced that Osama bin Laden was responsible for this attack?...
....RUSSERT: Will you release publicly a white paper which links him and his organization to this attack to put people at ease?
POWELL: We are hard at work bringing all the information together, intelligence information, law enforcement information. And I think in the near future we will be able to put out a paper, a document that will describe quite clearly the evidence that we have linking him to this attack. But also, remember, he has been linked to earlier attacks against U.S. interests, and he's already indicted for earlier attacks against United ...
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Sept. 24, 2001:
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.....Q The point is, what I'm trying to figure out is, is a group of people somewhere being tasked with coming up with a document that can be scrubbed of classified material so that you can lay out the case? Is that an effort that's now underway? Is that just an intention somewhere down the road?
MR. FLEISCHER: It remains a classified document; a series of classified documents, to be more precise.
Q Ari, do you know if classified documents are being supplied to the grand jury that's looking into this in New York?
MR. FLEISCHER: You need to talk to the Justice Department about anything dealing with grand juries......
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So, it's simple.... 12 days after 9/11,
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...POWELL:....And I think we will put before the world, the American people, a persuasive case that there will be no doubt when that case is presented that it is al Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, who has been responsible for this terrible tragic (inaudible).
DONALDSON: So you're talking about something beyond simple assertions by U.S. leaders. You're talking about assertions backed up by the evidence.
POWELL: Yes.
DONALDSON: OK....
....RUSSERT: Will you release publicly a white paper which links him and his organization to this attack to put people at ease?
POWELL: We are hard at work bringing all the information together, intelligence information, law enforcement information. And I think in the near future we will be able to put out a paper, a document that will describe quite clearly the evidence that we have linking him to this attack.....
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....'kay.... it's nearly seven years later, where is it? Where's the evidence that Powell spoke of, independent of later pronouncements attributed to bin Laden and interrogation of prisoners captured after Powell's assertions?
Another legitimate question. Why aren't you curious about the lack of follow up? Isn't believing an undocumented version of events, the definition of "fringe" beliefs?