Bush: Al Qaeda now part of Saddam's army

Bush has made some pretty asinine comments while trying to justify a war with Iraq. But this one tops them all:

"We need to think about Saddam Hussein using al-Qaida to do his dirty work, to not leave fingerprints behind," Bush said Monday at a rally for Michigan's GOP candidates.

"This is a man who we know has had connections with al-Qaida. This is a man who, in my judgment, would like to use al-Qaida as a forward army," Bush said later at a Dearborn, Mich. fund-raiser.

For the record, there are no known ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda, and all evidence suggests the two entities are fundamentally opposed (Al Qaeda is a fundamentalist organization, Hussein is vehemetly secular). If they have a common bond, it's that they both hate the US -- definitely not enough to suggest any alliance.

And does Bush really think that Osama Bin Laden would subjugate himself to Hussein and follow his orders? If nothing else, we know OBL is a megalomaniac who sees himself as the future leader of a united Arab world.

Bush has his war resolution, but he's still a man looking for justification. Even his advisers must sense the US public is not ready for a costly war, and the international community is backing off what little support it had originally offered (witness Britain, which seems increasingly satisfied with Saddam's recent promises to allow unfettered inspections). Attacks like the one in Bali and the French oil tanker may rally world support against terrorism, but no one sees a direct link to the regime in Baghdad. (Any real links run through Saudi Arabia and Iran. Why are they not the targets?)

So Bush will keep making stuff up, throwing his b.s. justifications out and hoping one of them, someday, sticks.

Posted October 15, 2002 08:44 AM | Comments (3)