I can't believe it took the Pentagon 7 years to come to the same conclusions most Americans with a brain had all along. No weapons of mass destruction and no connection betweeen Iraq and Al Queda. Way to go Bush administration. Only thing left to do is bring the troops home but Bush won't do it, he wants to leave that mess for someone else to clean up. Bush = worst president ever

us empires LIES and CRIMES is boundless. the empires is on it's deathbed as well it should be.

It seems to me that EVERYONE has missed the point here.

We attacked Saddam H. because he was suppossed to be supporting Al-Quida.

We defeated Saddam H., occuppied tthe country, and had him hung. (don't say WE didn't because he was in oour custody---and WE carried out the eexecution)

NOW, we are supplying arms and money to Sunni miltias to bring "order and security". The same people who supported Saddam Hussein. The same people Cond. Rice called a great step forward to release from prison and put in positions of power. And the same people who control the Iraqi army who are fighting the political enemies of the Prime Minister---a Sunni himself.

Official US policy is supporting the same people who we are told supported Al-Quida. US troops are currently attacking the Shi'ite who oppose the Sunnis. Therefore, US policy is in support of Al-Quida.

it's funny that clinton wanted to the same thing as bush, and is on record of saying saddam is better off gone. hmmm.... i sense a double standard here.

May I suggest that all commenters here actually read the executive summary? It is almost exactly opposite of Mr. Karl's portrayal. The inaccuracy may reach the threshold for a correction.

Reading the report reveals that Saddam had extensive contacts within various Islamic terrorist groups. I believe that the journalists reporting this have focused on the qualifier "no operational links" (as opposed to tacit or secret support) in order to justify an anti-war position.

Judge for yourselves.

I don't think anyone should hold their breath until CD's actually are sent to anyone. They'll be like those disappeared e-mails from the WH on firings of attorneys. If you're going to flip off the country and the constitution about one thing, why even consider a freedom of information law?

I assume, and will expect, that as soon as someone has the CD in her or his hands, that it can get posted online pretty darned quickly ?

The mainstream media (like you, ABC) owe at least that much to the public.

The press should order the CD and report the results of the study.

As for Bush and his gang of goons, they lied to the American people. They knew that Saddam was not a threat. They belong in prison.

Mark E. @Mar 12, 2008 7:39:40 PM

Mark, the report was produced a year ago (January 2007) but was just approved for declassification and (redacted) release under procedures set out (according to the report) in September 2007.

Al Queda...Fear, Fire, Foe! What a humbug! If we must have a fear to live with, We should be far more concerned with the "neo-Quedas" inside our goverment who put money and power ahead of america and It's citizens! oh and don't forget they tried to buy that "yeller cake"

ok by a show of hands, how many of you are suprised by this? ............anyone? ..................im waiting.............guess not

Where do we send for the CD?
And ABC : good coverage but go further and post the contact for the Cd !

It is this type of news that should make everyone question the culpability of this admin in the events of 9/11. The way they swiftly went after Iraq with an orchestrated campaign of lies on the heels of 9/11mmakes me think they knew 9/11 was coming. Now did they make it happen or let it happen? When will America wake up? I fear never.

Pelosi is as guilty as Bush.

OK, Frank. Sure, we all think O.J.'s guilty.

But are we going to drag him out in the street and beat him to death just because we THINK he's guilty?

You don't go to war based on hunches. And besides, all this information is coming from the military. Are you actually saying the military is trying to discredit the President for political purposes?

So when you request a copy of this report do you end up on the terrorist watchlist? This seems like impeachment material to me -- this Administration has repeatedly made public misstatements and it is beyond comprehension why this has not gained more traction.

Just because the Pentagon can't prove does NOT mean it did not happend!!!
Example O.J. They could not proved he killed two persons, but that does not
mean this din NOT happend. And like everything, its political. Why has no one interview the Iraqi Comerical Pilot that moved all the WMD to Syria? What next, no real prove Iran is building Nukes!! Who really belives that? beside Democrats and China.

So far we have only seen the President
and his staff hide behind claims of
executive privilege, outright lies,
obsessive secrecy, and of course, in
the case of Scooter Libbey, a pardon
from Mr. Bush.

Until this country sees the law applied
equally to everyone, and all citizens,
including the President, held accountable,
we will continue to see outlandishly
abusive actions such as those taken in
Iraq and Afghanistan repeated.

Does the Administration's perversity know no end? When will lying and covering up the truth have its ultimate blowback? We are all waiting.

I'm amazed to see how many how many of you common American citizens have the opinion 'we should do something about Iran', just because they are enriching uranium for peaceful purposes or not... It would be the complete end of America and probably the rest of the world as well.
When will you get it? The time of American interference and domination of other countries is over!
It's time you take a good look at yourselves - iow. INWARDS, not OUTWARDS.
And By the way, America is the only country which has ever actually USED nuclear weapons against another country.
Not to forget the depleted uranium pollution after the recent wars and occupations.
Get real... nobody looks up to you anymore, and the present global mess we are in now is directly and indirectly caused by America.
Maybe not by YOU as an individual, but by your corrupted government which more than half of YOU got into power.
Be ashamed. YOU! All of YOU!

KimB. From a snotty little country called Denmark.

It is not only the 4000 American Troops killed and the many more thousands severely injured that Bush/Cheny/Rumsfeld are directly responsible for, and so far totally unaccountable for, but, as a former civilian contractor in Iraq, I can tell you about friends, never counted, that never came home alive and many more wounded. The people that started this thing are a shame to this Nation.

I ordered a copy of the report, and I urge you to do so, and to urge your friends to do so. AND recommend it to your public library!

I did that today, and within the hour had the email response "Thank you for your email. Your copy will be sent today."

So I suggest you give it a try too. But be polite! remember, the soldier who gets your request is not the one who is keeping the report off the internet....and may be even more annoyed that you about Bush's war.

IT is unconstitutional to go to the war without declaration! And we didn't know about at the beginning and whatever is going on now is the domino effect and all because of our ignorance and lies that Mass media brings to us.
The only guy who could change it was a Ron
Paul!!!

You would think stuff like this would be front page news in every US news outlet. But to be quite honest, there were boat loads of people saying this..not just Obama, when this whole conflict got started. The apathy of the public as a whole is the most shocking part of this story.

What are you people talking about? You
should know by now that there is no
difference between Repubs and Dems.
Different sides of the same coin.

Hate to burst your bubble Frankie, but how are we supposed to get facts when GWB and his administration have proven to be the biggest liars in the world? Don't hold your breath waiting for the truth from this bunch. Don't take my word for it, it has been all over the news for years. Wake up and smell the stench.

SAUDI'S RESPONSIBLE FOR 911 - Saudi's flew the planes, Saudi's finance Al Queda, Bin Laden is a Saudi whose family has close ties to the Bush administration or do the Saudi Royal family - the ones who still finance terrorist organizations around the world. That is the reason for the Iraq War - to distract the american people from the fact that Bush's buddies were responsible for 911 - that and it gives Cheney's buddies at KBR/Halliburton the chance to loot billions of U.S. tax dollars and more billions of Iraqi oil revenues that have been diverted from reconstruction to 'foreign banks' - we were too stupid to notice.

Frankie: I get your point. But at the same time, we can't go to war based on assumptions. We need direct, verifiable evidence of an IMMINENT danger. As in, "If we don't act RIGHT NOW, we're going to suffer enormous consequences to our national security." At least that's what we used to go by.

This whole policy where we go to war based on vague suppositions of "what might happen" is opening up a can of worms. Where does it stop?

Every country on the face of the earth is a potential threat of some form or another, and we can't start attacking every one of them. Especially the ones that are, relatively speaking, much weaker than us (i.e. Iraq and Iran).

If we start down that road, we're ultimately responsible for the chaos such actions cause. And we'll only guarantee ourselves a perpetual state of war, which is seldom fun.

Whoa... Most everyone here is so quick to condemn Bush without knowing all the facts. Do we rally know all the facts yet? No one FOUND WMDs but that still leaves doubt, possibly they existed? Does this mean that we should do nothing about the regime in Iran? What a great deception this could be: politicans afraid to do nothing about Iran because it is not 'politically correct' to discuss let alone act on Iran. Wake up; we live in the most dangerous times in human history, a very complex world with extreme nuclear weapons. If Bush jumped to conclusions, and maybe he did, what I see here is the same: people reacting with out all the facts. And, just maybe Bush and other world leaders had more credible facts than we have, facts that looked very credible at that time. Our world faces a dearth of great leaders. Obama? Hillary? I fear for the future of our country. History will show whether Bush was right or wrong.

And this is supposed to be a surprise? God only knows what the pentagon and this administration have been hiding from us over the past 7+ years. We may be better off not knowing. Things are getting scary enough the way it is.

How the US Congress voted before the Iraq invasion and occupation could be very disconcerting.

Only one person started and could have prevented this disaster.

That is George W evildoer Bush.

Here is the primary summary paragraph from the Executive Summary of the report:

"But the relationship 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."

The summary goes on to indicate that the primary targets of such groups were Iraqi citizens in and outside or Iraq, that they did document their relationships with Palestinian terror groups.

So, to protect the McSame bid for a 3rd Bush term in office we are not allowed to see the report...why does this not surprise me?

Even more disturbing is that Bush, et al, are in the process of forging an
agreement with Iraq's prime minister that will allow US troops to stay in Iraq indefinitely without Congressional
approval. Now if this isn't in contravention of the Constitution, I don't know what is. Basically, the oil companies that were behind the invasion will now have US troops as a US tax paid
security force. Saddam had only tenuous ties to Al Queda, but Bush has
definite ties to Exxon, Shell, etc.
Yet this news doesn't even make it to
ABC.

The question that people should ultimately ask themselves is how can a superpower be so fearful of a less powerful country or terrorist group, when it has thousands, upon thosands of nuclear and biological weapons? For any country, or group of terrorists would surely know that they would be utterly annihilated if they were to use weapons of that scale.
Obviously, the war in Iraq was a war of ambition, not a war for the national defense- a "plan" inside of plans! What base desires under the pretension of intellect? But isn't competition itself life's base mode of survival and progress, even for "civilized" Man, and at this point in time, with no forseeable threat of transcendence?

all of the news people at all networks had better not let this story get away.dont be a bunch of ####### and let the people in the whitehouse rule this to.get a grip get some backbone and do your job for the american people!

Mark E.

Reading comprehension skills. I said reports.

1) The CIA declassified a report in 2006 that found no evidence of Al-Qaeda in Iraq before the war. But as usual righties refused to believe it and instead kept quoting Newsbusters.org as a reliable source

2) The executive study of this report is already available - no security clearance needed - just the ability to click on the link provided. In the report it clearly states: "This study found no smoking gun (i.e., direct connection) between Saddam's Iraq and al Qaeda."

So perhaps you should have read the executive summary of the report yourself.

Taken from the long historical viewpoint:

Bush was the lair while Saddam was telling the truth:
• There were NO WMDs. None.
• There were NO links between Saddam & al Qaeda. None.
• Iraq had NOTHING to do with 9/11. Zip.

Remember Bush constantly stating: "Saddam murdered his own people!"

Well now Bush has murdered over a MILLION Iraqis.

So in the history books of the future, Bush will be seen as an even lower scumbag than Saddam. And rightfully so. QUITE a feat!

A coworker of mine actually told me that he thinks we invaded Iraq because of 9/11...somehow he still thinks Iraq had something to do with it. Despite reports like these and stories like these....

Why bother? Bush has already admitted publicly that there was no link between Iraq and the boogey man. See PBS's "Buying the War" for reference.

thanks for the info bullwinkljmooz i have got a cd coming. the impeachment of bush and cheney should start [NOW] WITH OVER 4000 OF OUR PEOPLE KILLED.plus all that have been wounded give me a BREAK bill clinton was wrong for what he did but that is nothing to what these men have done to our country! and the people that have lost there loved ones.bush and cheney are the most hated people in this country wright now.

Sure seems like the righties are in denial. The Pentagon have released reports that:

1) Al-Qaeda was not in Iraq before the U.S. invasion

2) The was no connection between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda.

If the government had proof that Al-Qaeda was in Iraq before the war, and Saddam had contact with Al-Qaeda, the Bush administration, and every Republican politician would be yelling this from the top of their lungs - as it would validate the entire rationale for going to war.

JF Com nor the Pentagon WROTE this report.

The Senate Intel Committee, run by Democrats, WROTE the report that isn't even out yet though you guys somehow know all of its findings. Funny.....

Which site is "right wing"? That links to such right wing cronies as the AP, NYTimes, Washington Post, ABC and others? Real right wing bias there. Keep trying fellas.

Just remember guys. If it can be used to blame Bush - it's true. You don't need to read any further. Keep repeating that mantra.

Mark, The site you reference is an extension of the right-wing philosophy that says anything a liberal believes is wrong. It goes to great lengths to appease the Bush faithful even if the editors have to resort to reporting just half truths. If truth really does matter to you, then you'll have to believe the Pentagon Report. If truth however really doesn't matter to you, then by all means go on ingnoring this truthful evidence that makes you uncomfortable, bury your head in the sand, continue wringing your hands about the "Saddam/AlQaida connection, and be about as productive as a cat chasing its tail.

Mark E.: Yeah. The Pentagon didn't "write" this. Fine.

This review of intelligence was conducted for the Joint Forces Command by the Institute for Defense Analyses. In other words, this was directly commissioned BY THE PENTAGON. Things like this are always done by analysts who report their findings back to the people who commissioned the study.

You might think that means "it's not from the Pentagon," but that's like saying the government didn't release the 9/11 Commission Report--because the commission was made up of people who only USED to be members of the government.

Again, you're really stretching this thing, trying to discredit something that's coming FROM THE MILITARY. The facts are inconvenient. Deal with it.

It looks like the crazies are out if full force in their denial of the truth; that Saddam had NO links/ties to al-Qaeda.

But we already knew that from the Senate Intelligence Committee last fall when it’s report stating the same was released.

A visit of the various Fringe site who keep blowing head gaskets screeching about al-Zarqawi being in Iraq missed, or are pretending to have missed, the fact that Saddam had issues orders for Zarqawi’s arrest if his security forces found him in Iraq.

Mark E - I am going to have to take gb8898 seriously, you not so much. The pentagon is releasing info that discredits themselves. Seems like this report speaks truth.

Bush is running America much like Nazi Germany was run. All these hidden things about the Bush administration will come out some day,and the true evilness of all things Bush has endorsed will come to light.

GB, The Pentagon didn't write this. I already posted who did. If you don't know who even wrote it you really aren't to be taken seriously.

if this is true this makes bush as much a war criminal as saddam. how maney boys and girls has he gotten from his lies. it is all about the money that people are making on this war. how would this be to politically sensitive they dont want the american people to know the real story. keep digging this will make watergate look like a walk in the park.

What seems sad to me is that we all sit here and keep letting them continue this garbage.

Mark E. and Bart don't seem to understand. You guys keep citing books and websites. THIS REPORT IS FROM THE PENTAGON.

You say you have "evidence" the media won't tell us about.

No--you have "evidence" THE PENTAGON supposedly won't tell us about. Huge difference. You're accusing THE PENTAGON of withholding evidence which would justify ALL of our actions in Iraq. Why on earth would they do that? Are your accusations any better than MoveOn.org criticizing Gen. Petraeus?

Forgive me if I'm disinclined to believe politically-motivated websites and books which claim to have special access to top-secret documents and interviews that THE PENTAGON somehow lacked.

You guys are really reaching on this one. I understand your frustration. I've been let down by the party for awhile now. It stings when the folks you trusted misled you. But the truth is more important than blind party loyalty, especially when it comes to matters of war.

It's way too easy to blame GWB. The blame lies squarely at the feet of the American public, especially the evangelical christians.

You can request a copy of it to be mailed to you on CD by going to jfcom.mil and clicking on the Contact Us button.

Mr. Karl,
That report you link to is over a year old.

Why are you reporting that as news? That has NOTHING to do with Congress or any new reports nor does it have anything to do with the question of Saddam and al Qaeda?

Why is it you people can't get your facts remotely write on anything related to this subject except for your hatred of Bush?

Bart - I am sure there was a certain amount of militants here and there sprinkled throughout all of those countries over there. I am pretty sure there are even more there now. Heck there are probably plenty here in the US too with our wide open borders. I think the big question is: Was the war worth it,and I would say NO WAY. It has contributed to our ecomonic mess (falling dollar), made us even more enemies willing to take us on, turned off our allies, ruined any moral standing - as if we have that many morals anymore, drove up the price of oil and gas, killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, killed 4000 of our troops and counting, and has provided us with a plethora of soldiers with brain injuries and those soldiers that want to kill themselves. I really hope you are not in support of our preemptive intervention which goes against the just war theory of christianity, and quite frankly any good common sense.

mark:

1) The book Masters of Chaos states that some, not all, of the al Qaeda engaged in Operation Viking Hammer had fled from Afghanistan. You need to understand that al Qaeda is a loose alliance of several different Islamic terror groups. The al Qaeda allied group in Iraq was known as Ansar al Islam before it joined other jihadi coming into the country and changed its name to al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

2) Masters of Chaos states that Ansar had a Iraqi intelligence contact. There is no evidence that Saddam did anything but use Ansar to harass the Kurds. If Ansar was an enemy of Saddam, the Kurds would have cheered if Saddam killed them off the way he did over 300,000 Shia after the war.

No mention of al Qaeda, because the Bush Administration made up the name al Qaeda, as they don't exist. They made up the name, as the administration needed to comply with the law that they had to be "after" some group.

Wake up, America.

Of course Saddam didn't aid Al Qaeda! He was ruthless, but he wasn't stupid. He knew that if he aided, armed, and supported Al Qaeda that some day they would turn around and bite him in the arse! Why, only a FOOL would aid, arm, and s u p p o r t .......... opps forgot, WE DID!

gb8898:

The Iraqi documents state repeatedly that Iraq trained foreign Arab Feyedeen terrorists in suicide bombing and IED attacks for three years prior to the liberation of Iraq. You are correct that these particular documents do not use the term al Qaeda.

However, you keep dodging the fact that the only foreign Arab Feyedeen conducting suicide bombing and IED attacks in Iraq since the liberation were al Qaeda

Until you can show me any evidence that all these Iraqi trained foreign Arab Feyedeen were members of another terror group distinct and independent from al Qaeda, the obvious conclusion is that these foreign Arab Feyedeen are al Qaeda.

Bart DePalma

You say that 1500 Al Qaeda were found in Kurdistan.
Fine.
And they fled their from Afghanistan.
OK.
So essentially, the U.S. chased Al Qaeda into Kurdistan, an essentially autonomous part of Iraq where the locals were extremely hostile to Saddam and where Saddam had minimal influence.

I hope you realize that's not quite the same as saying that Saddam was harboring and helping Al Qaeda.

And you forget (or choose to ignore) the fact that Saddam wasn't even allowed to fly over the majority of his own country. He wasn't even allowed to have helicopters. U.S. planes were patrolling Iraqi skies for years prior to the second Gulf War.

How was Saddam supposed to get rid of Al Qaeda? The U.S. can't even get rid of Al Qaeda. Even with the hundreds of billions of dollars it has spent trying to do exactly that.
Saddam didn't have a fraction of those resources. And yet you think he would have been able to get rid of them with a snap of his fingers?

Use your head.

There are numerous terrorist groups, militias, and extremists active in the U.S. Does that mean the U.S. is actively aiding and abetting these groups?

Evergreen - Your right a handful of congressmen did know. Obama spoke out against it. Kucincich, Paul, and I think Gravel voted against military action. These people should be rewarded instead of made fun of.

Bart - I am going to have to agree with gb8898. If the pentagon has the ####### to admit that the war they are fighting is being carried out under false pretences, then maybe this report should actually be believed. This report certainly doesn't serve the pentagon's interests at the moment.

So: where is the address we can write to to request this report? If a billion of us asked for it would we get it? And how much would that cost us? More Idiocy by the Corporate driven powers that currently be.

Just stop voting for people who take money from lobbyists and we might stop being America By & For the Corporations.

Typical. I wish I could say I was surprised...

Iraqi specialists have reiterated this since prior to invasion. Which is WHY Obama and a handful of other congressional people KNEW it was bogus and did not want to go along, play along with Bush/Cheney/OIL plans. I guess it depends upon who is paying you more...the people or Big Oil dividends.

At least we know the Gov of New York isn't spending any quality time with hookers today.

Thank goodness our government is taking care of the important things.

Some of you don't seem to get it. It was INCONCEIVABLE that Saddam Hussein would aid Al Qaeda in any way. Saddam was a secular dictator and a control freak. No way would he aid a destabilizing terrorist group like Al Qaeda, especially since one of Al Qaeda's main goals is to bring down secular dictators such as Saddam. They would have been mortal enemies.

Bart: The report says absolutely NOTHING about Al Qaeda. If it did, Mr. Bush would be holding a press conference and reciting entire passages of the report to the press. This would be his ultimate vindication.

Instead, his administration is working to make the document harder to attain. Doesn't that speak for itself?

Saddam was a horrible human being, if he can even be called that. And he very well might have allowed some terrorists to train in his country--but not Al Qaeda. And that makes Iraq just like Iran, Syria, Pakistan, etc.

So why aren't we going after them, too? And why do we ignore Saudi Arabia, arguably the biggest sponsor of terror in the world?

anybody who's surprised by this needs their heads examined. Bushie and his cohorts have been doing nothing but lie from day one and the cowards in Congress are either too well paid or too stupid to stop bushie and his coven. What is it going to take?

I find it particularly amusing that the GOP was literally SCREAMING for Spitzer to be impeached - after what their "Gloryless Leader" has done to the U.S. and the rest of the world? Talk about a double standard.

gb8898:

1) al Qaeda was in Iraq long before the Coalition kicked off military operations in 2003.

Among the captured Iraqi documents which were made public and translated was a 2002 Feyedeen Saddam militia report that al Qaeda's Zarqawi was recruiting Iraqis to fight our troops in Afghanistan.

Furthermore, I would recommend the book "Masters of Chaos" by Linda Robinson.
One of the later chapters discusses Operation Viking Hammer, where a combination Special Forces and Kurd Peshmerga force fought and routed roughly 1500 al Qaeda in a camp in southern Kurdistan. The SF told Robinson that they found passports and travel papers of al Qaeda who had fled Afghanistan and were reconstituting in Iraq. They also found a chemical weapons lab with chemical protective suits, atropine nerve gas antidote and manuals in arabic. The SF said that the 750 surviving al Qaeda fled toward the Sunni Triangle. The captured al Qaeda told the SF interrogators about their contact with Iraqi intelligence.

2) If you are aware of a group of non-Iraqi Arabs besides al Qaeda who are waging a campaign of suicide bombings and IED attacks in Iraq, I would be glad to consider them as an alternative explanation of the home of all of all the foreign Arab terrorists which Iraq trained and sheltered.

3) This Republican does not find the report at all inconvenient, only the misrepresentation in much of the media that the report found no connection between Saddam and al Qaeda. To the contrary, the executive summary of the report indicates that Iraq was a major state sponsor of terrorism and implies that Iraq was in the business of sponsoring and training al Qaeda terrorists.

and the Palestinians who were wagin

This is not suprising. This administration has never really been big on reality, unless it is an alternate reality of their own creation. Poor Bush and Cheney. Lies will be a big part of their legacy.

Bart: Your "deductive work" is very interesting. But there's a problem. Al Qaeda in Iraq largely began as a spontaneous grass-roots uprising of Iraqi Sunnis who got ****** when they were thrown out of power. That's it.

Foreign fighters flocked to Iraq after the invasion, and they joined with the Sunnis, and they started calling themselves "Al Qaeda in Iraq." (After all, why wouldn't they want to associate themselves with the sworn enemy of THEIR enemy--the United States?)

But it's a major leap to say that since a previous non-military report said Saddam trained fighters in the use of IEDs, suicide vests, etc., these current fighters simply MUST be the same ones, they MUST be Bin Laden's al Qaeda and, therefore, al Qaeda MUST have been harbored by Saddam Hussein. Kind of a stretch, don't you think?

You're right about one thing, though. There are no other foreign Arab groups operating in Iraq. That's because the terrorists who call themselves "Al Qaeda in Iraq" are angry Iraqis--the direct result of the invasion. They're the consequence of our actions.

Many Republicans find this report "inconvenient," and that's fine. But it's a report FROM THE MILITARY. Stop trying to spin it. The more Republicans cite "top secret memos" and unsubstantiated rumors, the more Republicans begin to sound like conspiracy theorists.

The executive summary raises a number of fascinating issues.

The last bullet point and the following paragraph on page ES-2 are or particular interest. Contrary to to spin of Iraq War opponents, the captured Iraqi documents to show that, after the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Saddam increased his recruiting, training and resourcing of Islamic fundamentalist terror organizations to shift the regional balance of power back towards Iraq. This training included the use of suicide vests and car bombs (IEDs).

Also of interest are the cited extracts of Iraqi documents on pages x-xii of the executive summary, most of which do not appear to have been previously released to the public. Extracts 6-8 refer to Iraq's program to recruit and train "suicide volunteers." al Qaeda ran the only significant suicide bombing campaign in Iraq after the liberation.

Extract 11 refers to a document breaking down all the foreign Arab Fedeyeen terrorist by nationality. If these foreign Arab Fedeyeen were not Palestinian, they were most certainly al Qeada because only the Palestinians and al Qaeda were conducting suicide bombings at this time.

Extracts 22 and 23 refer to documents describing Iraqi bombing attacks against American aid workers in Kurdistan in 2001. That appears to be an act of war to me.

As a democracy becomes a dictatorship the following ten steps unfold:

1. A terrifying internal and external enemy is invoked - Recession and terrorism.

2. A gulag is created – Detention and transit camps and prisons.

3. A thug caste is developed.- Increased powers of the FBI, CIA. Use of private security firms.

4. An internal surveillance system is established – The Real ID Act.

5. Citizens' groups are harassed - Churches, mosques, ACLU, NRA, etc…

6. Engagement in arbitrary detention and release – Enemy combatants.

7. Key individuals are targeted politically – The Bush administration’s purging of eight U.S. attorneys, for insufficient political loyalty. Goebbels did the same in 1933 before things took a turn towards Facism in Germany.

8. The Press becomes controlled - Joseph Wilson. It's also noted that news may or not be real these days if it's governmental, by their own admission.

9. Dissent of the people equates to treason – You do not agree with us. Therefore, you must be a traitor.

10. The Rule of Law is suspended - "Patriot" Act, John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007.

WAKE UP, America!!!

Bob: Congress most certainly gets a lot of the blame for this. But they also weren't presented with competing evidence that might have kept us from invading. That's because Mr. Bush chose to disregard that evidence.

Some folks saw through the whole thing, but they were few in number--especially on my side. Ron Paul was one of the most vocal Republicans to oppose the war, and look how he's been treated by the party.

So yes, Congress does bear *some* responsibility for this mess. But the buck ultimately stops with the President and the people who have defended the war so vociferously in light of everything we've learned since the invasion.

And this latest attempt by the administration to suppress the truth (which will NEVER work--this report will probably be on the web within a matter of days) is simply inexcusable. I don't know how any Republican could defend this, but I'm sure a way will be found.

WestCoastmessenger.. even in third world democratic countries the press and the public is not treated the way this adminstration has treated all of us

The report concludes that Saddam had no "direct operational link" with al Qaeda, rather than "no direct link." In plain English, all that phrase means is that none of the reviewed documents directly links Saddam with an al Qaeda terror operation.

This leaves a veritable universe of other relationships. Will the report tell us whether the Iraqi documents indicate that Saddam had a direct non-operational relationship with al Qaeda (shelter, funding, supply and training) or an indirect operational relationship with al Qaeda (knowledge about al Qaeda operations)? Will ABC or the other major news organizations explore this?

The report notes that the captured documents stated that Iraq was providing terrorist training to foreign Arabs. In fact, a previously released 1999 Iraqi Intelligence Service document translated over at the Free Republic blog discussed the programs to develop IEDs and to train foreign Arab Fedeyeen (terrorists) in 2000.
However, the report authors apparently have reviewed further Iraqi documents indicating that Saddam's training of foreign Arab terrorists started two years earlier in 1998 and involved training in car bombs, IEDs and suicide vests.

Finally, the report concludes that most of Saddam's terrorist activities were directed against domestic political opponents. That is like saying that most of Hitler's mass murder was directed against the Jews while leaving out the other hundreds of thousands he murdered across Europe. Will the report tell us against whom Saddam directed his other terror activities?

Again, previously released Iraqi documents give us an good indication. A 2001 top secret letter drafted six months before the Coalition liberated Iraq requests volunteers for a suicide mission against "American interests."

The executive summary of and current leaks about the report do not inform us whether the captured Iraqi documents describe what happened to all the foreign Arab terrorists Iraq trained in IED use and suicide bombing during the three years prior to the Coalition liberation of Iraq. However, arriving at the answer does not take much deductive work.

Which group of foreign Arabs has been conducting a suicide bombing and IED campaign against American interests in Iraq for the past four years?

HINT: Its initials are AQ.

There are no other foreign Arab groups operating in Iraq.

While the captured Iraqi documents directly liking Saddam with an al Qaeda terrorist operation, they sure appear indicate that Saddam was training, supplying and sheltering al Qaeda in Iraq.

Before we invaded Iraq congress voted on it. Most of the members of congress did not even read the intelligence that was available to them. Before whining like idiots about how it's all the republicans fault and all the presidents fault people should look at how thier representative voted.