sharky
New Yorker
THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ: DIPLOMACY:
Powell Admits No Hard Proof In Linking Iraq to Al Qaeda
The New York Times via Dow Jones
Publication Date: Friday January 09, 2004
Foreign Desk; Section A; Page 10; Column 1
c. 2004 New York Times Company
By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell conceded Thursday
that despite his assertions to the United Nations last year, he had no "smoking
gun" proof of a link between the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
and terrorists of Al Qaeda.
"I have not seen smoking-gun, concrete evidence about the connection," Mr.
Powell said, in response to a question at a news conference. "But I think the
possibility of such connections did exist, and it was prudent to consider them
at the time that we did."
Mr. Powell's remarks on Thursday were a stark admission that there is no
definitive evidence to back up administration statements and insinuations that
Saddam Hussein had ties to Al Qaeda, the acknowledged authors of the Sept. 11
attacks. Although President Bush finally acknowledged in September that there
was no known connection between Mr. Hussein and the attacks, the impression of a
link in the public mind has become widely accepted -- and something
administration officials have done little to discourage.
Mr. Powell offered a vigorous defense of his Feb. 5 presentation before the
Security Council, in which he voiced the administration's most detailed case to
date for war with Iraq. After studying intelligence data, he said that a
"sinister nexus" existed "between Iraq and the Al Qaeda terrorist network, a
nexus that combines classic terrorist organizations and modern methods of
murder."
Without any additional qualifiers, Mr. Powell continued, "Iraq today harbors a
deadly terrorist network, headed by Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi, an associate and
collaborator of Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda lieutenants."
He added, "Iraqi officials deny accusations of ties with Al Qaeda. These
denials are simply not credible."
On Thursday, Mr. Powell dismissed second-guessing and said that Mr. Bush had
acted after giving Mr. Hussein 12 years to come into compliance with the
international community.
"The president decided he had to act because he believed that whatever the
size of the stockpile, whatever one might think about it, he believed that the
region was in danger, America was in danger and he would act," he said. "And he
did act."
In a rare, wide-ranging meeting with reporters, Mr. Powell voiced some
optimism on several other issues that have bedeviled the administration,
including North Korea and Sudan, while expressing dismay about the Middle East
and Haiti.
But mostly, the secretary, appearing vigorous and in good spirits three weeks
after undergoing surgery for prostate cancer, defended his justification for the
war in Iraq. He said he had been fully aware that "the whole world would be
watching," as he painstakingly made the case that the government of Saddam
Hussein presented an imminent threat to the United States and its interests.
The immediacy of the danger was at the core of debates in the United Nations
over how to proceed against Mr. Hussein. A report released Thursday by the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a nonpartisan Washington research
center, concluded that Iraq's weapons programs constituted a long-term threat
that should not have been ignored. But it also said the programs did not "pose
an immediate threat to the United States, to the region or to global security."
Mr. Powell's United Nations presentation -- complete with audiotapes and
satellite photographs -- asserted that "leaving Saddam Hussein in possession of
weapons of mass destruction for a few more months or years is not an option."
The secretary said he had spent time with experts at the Central Intelligence
Agency studying reports. "Anything that we did not feel was solid and
multisourced, we did not use in that speech," he said Thursday.
He said that Mr. Hussein had used prohibited weapons in the past -- including
nerve gas attacks against Iran and Iraqi Kurds -- and said that even if there
were no actual weapons at hand, there was every indication he would reconstitute
them once the international community lost interest.
"In terms of intention, he always had it," Mr. Powell said. "What he was
waiting to do is see if he could break the will of the international community,
get rid of any potential future inspections, and get back to his intentions,
which were to have weapons of mass destruction."
The administration has quietly withdrawn a 400-member team of American weapons
inspectors who were charged with finding chemical or biological weapons
stockpiles or laboratories, officials said this week. The team was part of the
1,400-member Iraq Survey Group, which has not turned up such weapons or active
programs, the officials said.
The Carnegie report challenged the possibility that Mr. Hussein could have
destroyed the weapons, hidden them or shipped them out of the country. Officials
had alleged that Iraq held amounts so huge -- hundreds of tons of chemical and
biological weapons, dozens of Scud missiles -- that such moves would have been
detected by the United States, the report said.
Powell Admits No Hard Proof In Linking Iraq to Al Qaeda
The New York Times via Dow Jones
Publication Date: Friday January 09, 2004
Foreign Desk; Section A; Page 10; Column 1
c. 2004 New York Times Company
By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell conceded Thursday
that despite his assertions to the United Nations last year, he had no "smoking
gun" proof of a link between the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
and terrorists of Al Qaeda.
"I have not seen smoking-gun, concrete evidence about the connection," Mr.
Powell said, in response to a question at a news conference. "But I think the
possibility of such connections did exist, and it was prudent to consider them
at the time that we did."
Mr. Powell's remarks on Thursday were a stark admission that there is no
definitive evidence to back up administration statements and insinuations that
Saddam Hussein had ties to Al Qaeda, the acknowledged authors of the Sept. 11
attacks. Although President Bush finally acknowledged in September that there
was no known connection between Mr. Hussein and the attacks, the impression of a
link in the public mind has become widely accepted -- and something
administration officials have done little to discourage.
Mr. Powell offered a vigorous defense of his Feb. 5 presentation before the
Security Council, in which he voiced the administration's most detailed case to
date for war with Iraq. After studying intelligence data, he said that a
"sinister nexus" existed "between Iraq and the Al Qaeda terrorist network, a
nexus that combines classic terrorist organizations and modern methods of
murder."
Without any additional qualifiers, Mr. Powell continued, "Iraq today harbors a
deadly terrorist network, headed by Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi, an associate and
collaborator of Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda lieutenants."
He added, "Iraqi officials deny accusations of ties with Al Qaeda. These
denials are simply not credible."
On Thursday, Mr. Powell dismissed second-guessing and said that Mr. Bush had
acted after giving Mr. Hussein 12 years to come into compliance with the
international community.
"The president decided he had to act because he believed that whatever the
size of the stockpile, whatever one might think about it, he believed that the
region was in danger, America was in danger and he would act," he said. "And he
did act."
In a rare, wide-ranging meeting with reporters, Mr. Powell voiced some
optimism on several other issues that have bedeviled the administration,
including North Korea and Sudan, while expressing dismay about the Middle East
and Haiti.
But mostly, the secretary, appearing vigorous and in good spirits three weeks
after undergoing surgery for prostate cancer, defended his justification for the
war in Iraq. He said he had been fully aware that "the whole world would be
watching," as he painstakingly made the case that the government of Saddam
Hussein presented an imminent threat to the United States and its interests.
The immediacy of the danger was at the core of debates in the United Nations
over how to proceed against Mr. Hussein. A report released Thursday by the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a nonpartisan Washington research
center, concluded that Iraq's weapons programs constituted a long-term threat
that should not have been ignored. But it also said the programs did not "pose
an immediate threat to the United States, to the region or to global security."
Mr. Powell's United Nations presentation -- complete with audiotapes and
satellite photographs -- asserted that "leaving Saddam Hussein in possession of
weapons of mass destruction for a few more months or years is not an option."
The secretary said he had spent time with experts at the Central Intelligence
Agency studying reports. "Anything that we did not feel was solid and
multisourced, we did not use in that speech," he said Thursday.
He said that Mr. Hussein had used prohibited weapons in the past -- including
nerve gas attacks against Iran and Iraqi Kurds -- and said that even if there
were no actual weapons at hand, there was every indication he would reconstitute
them once the international community lost interest.
"In terms of intention, he always had it," Mr. Powell said. "What he was
waiting to do is see if he could break the will of the international community,
get rid of any potential future inspections, and get back to his intentions,
which were to have weapons of mass destruction."
The administration has quietly withdrawn a 400-member team of American weapons
inspectors who were charged with finding chemical or biological weapons
stockpiles or laboratories, officials said this week. The team was part of the
1,400-member Iraq Survey Group, which has not turned up such weapons or active
programs, the officials said.
The Carnegie report challenged the possibility that Mr. Hussein could have
destroyed the weapons, hidden them or shipped them out of the country. Officials
had alleged that Iraq held amounts so huge -- hundreds of tons of chemical and
biological weapons, dozens of Scud missiles -- that such moves would have been
detected by the United States, the report said.