Friday, June 18, 2004
The Dog That Didn't Bark
So Vladimir Putin says Russia had evidence that Saddam Hussein was planning terrorist attacks on the United States after 9/11, and that he passed it on to us. OK, so then why didn't Bush sound the alarm when he was trying to sell the war in Iraq? Why'd we get all the talk of what Saddam could do or might do if there was evidence that he was going to do something? It defies belief that an administration looking to go to war would fail to latch on to so perfect a ready-made pretense. It also seems unlikely that the existence of this Russian intelligence could have remained secret for so long.
So I can only conclude that the Putin statement is garbage--another pre-emptive PR strike at the 9/11 commission's report, another attempt to bolster the discredited notion that Iraq and Al Qaida were some kind of two-headed monster. Bush said just this morning that he never claimed 9/11 was orchestrated by Iraq and Al Qaida working together--but he didn't have to. The administration made dozens, perhaps hundreds, of statements implying such a link. To try and get off the hook this way is like a guy claiming he never had an affair with his assistant because he never explicitly said he was having one, even though he was repeatedly seen going into a motel room with her at 2:00 in the afternoon with no luggage.
What does Putin gain from this? Maybe this is a payoff for something Putin got during the G-8 meetings last week. Or maybe the payoff is yet to come, somewhere down the line. Stay tuned.
Recommended Reading: It's impossible to describe. You'll just have to read it.
So Vladimir Putin says Russia had evidence that Saddam Hussein was planning terrorist attacks on the United States after 9/11, and that he passed it on to us. OK, so then why didn't Bush sound the alarm when he was trying to sell the war in Iraq? Why'd we get all the talk of what Saddam could do or might do if there was evidence that he was going to do something? It defies belief that an administration looking to go to war would fail to latch on to so perfect a ready-made pretense. It also seems unlikely that the existence of this Russian intelligence could have remained secret for so long.
So I can only conclude that the Putin statement is garbage--another pre-emptive PR strike at the 9/11 commission's report, another attempt to bolster the discredited notion that Iraq and Al Qaida were some kind of two-headed monster. Bush said just this morning that he never claimed 9/11 was orchestrated by Iraq and Al Qaida working together--but he didn't have to. The administration made dozens, perhaps hundreds, of statements implying such a link. To try and get off the hook this way is like a guy claiming he never had an affair with his assistant because he never explicitly said he was having one, even though he was repeatedly seen going into a motel room with her at 2:00 in the afternoon with no luggage.
What does Putin gain from this? Maybe this is a payoff for something Putin got during the G-8 meetings last week. Or maybe the payoff is yet to come, somewhere down the line. Stay tuned.
Recommended Reading: It's impossible to describe. You'll just have to read it.
