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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Allawi: Saddam connected to al-Qaida |
| 2004-06-30 |
| EFL Brokaw: I know that you and others like you are grateful for the liberation of Iraq. But can’t you understand why many Americans feel that so many young men and women have died here for purposes other than protecting the United States? Sssssssslant! Lips...are falling...off. Allawi: We know that this is an extension to what has happened in New York. And — the war have been taken out to Iraq by the same terrorists. Saddam was a potential friend and partner and natural ally of terrorism. Sssssssslam! Brokaw: Prime minister, I’m surprised that you would make the connection between 9/11 and the war in Iraq. The 9/11 commission in America says there is no evidence of a collaborative relationship between Saddam Hussein and those terrorists of al-Qaida. I am shocked I tell you! Allawi: No. I believe very strongly that Saddam had relations with al-Qaida. And these relations started in Sudan. We know Saddam had relationships with a lot of terrorists and international terrorism. Now, whether he is directly connected to the September — atrocities or not, I can’t — vouch for this. But definitely I know he has connections with extremism and terrorists. Brokaw: But,...but,...but the 911 Commission says that...hey where did my lips go? |
| Posted by:Dragon Fly |
| #21 This wasn't a very good Scrappleface parody, since no journalist would make such biased hack-job interview... Oh, it's real? Never mind. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2004-06-30 3:46:42 PM |
| #20 If there were any more questions, NBC didn't post them this time. I guess their learning from their "mistakes" of the past. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-06-30 2:21:09 PM |
| #19 .com, Zhang, yank, DF, C. Lib. -- great stuff. And not just because great minds think alike. Did you see the Brokaw interview of Dubya at Normandy? Now this with Allawi -- very similar. I just wish one of them (or another figure subjected to his nearly insulting dumb, loaded, and falsely-premised questions) would tear his head off -- great video, and would help alert some less attentive folks that these people long ago went off the shallow end. (trademarked phrase) I also marvel (and now, fret) over the amazing common-sense gyroscope that seems to guide most Americans. How more than a small minority can think clearly or realistically about international issues, given the distortion and falsehood they're relentlessly fed, is a mystery. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2004-06-30 1:41:55 PM |
| #18 Saddam a "friend" of the US, et cetera. Problem here is the use of the word "friend". Saddam did receive support from the US for the purpose of fighting with Iran. At the time, Iran posed the more important threat. If we could use the Iraqis to limit the Iranians, we were able to achieve an end without direct loss of American loss and a limited loss of American resources. However, we were also careful not help Iraq beat the Iranians. We often provided the Iraqis with false intelligence so that we could injury Iraq's position. As Kissinger said during this time, "It's a shame they both can't lose." |
| Posted by: 5442 2004-06-30 1:40:52 PM |
| #17 Capsu78 - Credit to DF - I know the print game (via Ex-Spousal Unit), but DF's characterization of the broadcast time issues sourced 'package', lol! I'm just boggled by how susceptible we all are - and have been all our lives - to this little cabal of self-appointed truth police called the press. Brings to mind the Firesign Theater routine where the guy is entering Turkey and the Immigration Officer asks, "Have you seen the past? You'd better hurry - they're cleaning it, you know." |
| Posted by: .com 2004-06-30 12:18:13 PM |
| #16 How the American public seems to get it right most of the time is a complete mystery to me with all of the misinformation they are inundated with. Most of the American public doesn't follow the news on TV or read the daily papers. At one point I thought of those folks as mainly ignorant. Now I think most of them are just exercising common sense. |
| Posted by: Classical_Liberal 2004-06-30 12:17:02 PM |
| #15 Zhang, Two very concise replys. .Com, "History" vs "Packaging" frames up and simplifys a lot of the problems I spot in media coverage too. Consider the thought stolen! |
| Posted by: Capsu78 2004-06-30 12:10:32 PM |
| #14 "If recall correclty, Saddam was a friend of the US during Regan's administrtion and was paid a number of visits by Rumsfeld!" If I recall France was a friend of the US once and we still visit them from time to time. I would say the ex-friends have an additional responsibility to set things right when the old friend goes psycho (or you finally realize they've gone psycho). France and Russia can you hear me? |
| Posted by: yank 2004-06-30 11:51:04 AM |
| #13 Thanks, Zhang, nothing better than some good facts and logic. It is the only real way to pop the bubbles of the loony left. You always have something good to contribute. |
| Posted by: Anon1 2004-06-30 9:55:16 AM |
| #12 Anonymous42321: If recall correclty, Saddam was a friend of the US during Regan's administrtion and was paid a number of visits by Rumsfeld! The left specializes in compound lies. The implication here is that the Rumsfeld visit was somehow an extraordinary event. The reality is that that visit (with Rumsfeld in his capacity as a private citizen drafted as an envoy) was preparatory to the US resuming full diplomatic relations with Iraq, long after just about every UN member had recognized the government (and the reality of Baath Party supremacy) in Iraq, including China, the Soviet Union and France, all of which scrambled to recognize (and arm) the new dictatorship pretty much as soon as it took power in the early 1970's. The US, by contrast, held out on recognition until the mid-80's, resuming diplomatic ties (and re-establishing an embassy in Iraq) only when it appeared that Iran was on the verge of overwhelming Saddam's armies. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-06-30 9:42:35 AM |
| #11 The unabashed loyalty to dead tree news and the glazed over religious dedication to the CRT's talking heads has most of our country under a heavy dose of anti American drivel. How the American public seems to get it right most of the time is a complete mystery to me with all of the misinformation they are inundated with. How anyone can look me in the eye and tell me sKerry and the Democrats are better for our country and our future with a straight face is a complete and total moron. These people scare the hell out of me. |
| Posted by: Long Hair Republican 2004-06-30 8:58:01 AM |
| #10 Yes .com the major partisan media outlets have had great gains in defining the meta-narrative. I am frightened when people I know explain why they voting for Kerry using almost verbatim the script from the nightly news, Wash Post, et al. Tragic. |
| Posted by: Dragon Fly 2004-06-30 8:40:14 AM |
| #9 DF - I like this guy - a lot! As for NBC - to advertise their "exclusive" interview and puff themselves up, then do a whack-job on it is more than just a packaging problem, IMO. If they didn't have time to shoe-horn it in between their BushHatred, Abu Crap Abuse, quagmire, and Skeery softcore pieces - and the obligatory dog rescue closer, then they should've teased for a special - with the whole thing broadcast uncut. Pfeh. Disingenuous and deceptive butchery for political ends. I heard a recent telephone interview with Mike Wallace that made my blood boil so much that I literally had to turn it off. Never, in my life, have I heard such a biased and politically bigoted stance from an MSM "institution.". Truly appalling. Which leads me to wonder... What keeps coming to mind as I read example after example, some so egregious that they're breathtaking, I can't help but wonder how much of what I lived and witnessed as "history" is actually "packaging" by the CBSNCBABC cabal prior to the advent of CNN (back when they weren't even worse, heh) and other cable news outlets, not to mention online access to thousands of newspapers and finally the bloggers who work so hard to keep everyone honest. Do I need to add in the textbooks which were force-fed to us? Boggles. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-06-30 8:31:39 AM |
| #8 Anonymous42321: The word "friend" is subjective, and friend to the US, vague. Number of visits by Rumsfeld doesn't mean anything, what does mean something is what was said and done, information you don't have and this causes you to have a messy left-wing fantasy. |
| Posted by: CobraCommander 2004-06-30 8:17:54 AM |
| #7 Fun with follow ups! Money Quote from Allawi: "In December Dr. Allawi commented on a recently discovered Iraqi intelligence document placing lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta in Baghdad two months before the attacks. "We are uncovering evidence all the time of Saddam's involvement with al-Qaeda," he told the London Telegraph. "But this is the most compelling piece of evidence that we have found so far. It shows that not only did Saddam have contacts with al-Qaeda, he had contact with those responsible for the September 11 attacks.' " |
| Posted by: Dragon Fly 2004-06-30 8:09:45 AM |
| #6 .com ...I agree with your thoughts. However, the abrupt cut-off may have more to do with the fact that this was a package for the nightly news. We may see a more extended version of the "interview" on one of the weekend shows. |
| Posted by: Dragon Fly 2004-06-30 8:01:58 AM |
| #5 Anonymous42321: If recall correclty, Saddam was a friend of the US during Regan's administrtion and was paid a number of visits by Rumsfeld! If I recall correctly, Stalin was a friend of the US during Roosevelt's administrtion and was paid a number of visits by Hull. Actually, the US was much more of a friend to Stalin than it was a friend of Saddam's. The US sent tens of billions of dollars in food and material aid to the Soviets, back when billions of dollars actually meant something. And the Soviets repaid this friendship by spending hundreds of billions of dollars to finance, train and supply Communist insurgencies around the world and preventing free elections in liberated Eastern Europe, just as Saddam repaid American friendship by invading Kuwait. It just goes to show that ingratitude runs among both Russians and Arabs. (Of course, Saddam's greatest friends were the Soviets, the French and the Chinese, as evidenced by the fact that most of his armory came from these three countries - he had no American weapons systems at all, not even the M-16). |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-06-30 7:59:09 AM |
| #4 It's one helluva stretch to call this an interview - and the abrupt cut-off does, indeed, indicate that what followed was judged to be too far off the editorial agenda. Some "news" organization. But then the truth wouldn't be very interesting to slugs who live in the distant past and thrive on conspiracy tripe and their BushHatred. Allawi should talk to a real journalist (there's bound to be 4 or 5 of them surviving), preferably an independent, I would very much like to hear more from this man. He seems to be a tough guy and straight-shooter. What a concept. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-06-30 7:53:31 AM |
| #3 If recall correclty, Saddam was a friend of the US during Regan's administrtion and was paid a number of visits by Rumsfeld ! |
| Posted by: Anonymous42321 2004-06-30 7:45:07 AM |
| #2 I wonder what the rest of the interview was like.. Kind of telling that they cut it off after just two questions |
| Posted by: Dcreeper 2004-06-30 7:42:07 AM |
| #1 Brokaw: Do you get an erection every time an American soldier dies, just like me? |
| Posted by: Charles 2004-06-30 7:40:23 AM |