| The head of the Pentagon forgot why he started the war in Iraq Saddam Hussein did not maintain relations with al-Qaeda terrorists. This statement was made in New York, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, by US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. It turns out that the Pentagon chief “never saw any hard and reliable evidence” of a connection between the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein and the international terrorist group al-Qaeda. Apparently, the US intelligence services did not have any serious evidence of such a connection. After all, as Donald Rumsfeld himself said, he had to “face the fact that the answer to this question changed in the most surprising way in the intelligence community throughout the year.” In addition, according to the head of the Pentagon, US intelligence services were mistaken in asserting the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. “Why the intelligence information presented was incorrect, I am not able to say. I just don't know,” Mr. Rumsfeld said.
However, the White House has repeatedly repeated that the reason for the attack on Iraq was precisely Saddam Hussein’s connections with al-Qaeda and the presence of arsenals of prohibited weapons in Iraq. This was repeatedly stated by Donald Rumsfeld himself, who became the main inspirer of the armed invasion. In August 2002, seven months before the start of the war, he assured that al-Qaeda was in Iraq" and Saddam Hussein was "giving terrorists sanctuary on his territory."
These revelations are surprising primarily because of their untimeliness. In addition to the obvious contradictions in his own words, the head of the Pentagon unexpectedly cast President Bush in an awkward light in the midst of the election campaign. The main theme of the Bush campaign was precisely the connection between the war in Iraq and the fight against al-Qaeda terrorism. It was this trump card that Democratic rival John Kerry successfully played during the first televised debate. “America was attacked not by Saddam Hussein, but by al-Qaeda,” he said and accused George W. Bush of getting bogged down in the war in Iraq instead of a real war on terrorism.
Already yesterday Rumsfeld backed down. The Pentagon press office released a statement from the defense secretary, in which he stressed that his comments were "sadly misunderstood." When in fact, before the Iraq War, he repeatedly received from then-CIA Director George Tenet “reliable evidence of the presence of al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq, some of whom were in Baghdad.”
As Sergei Oznobishchev, director of the Institute for Strategic Assessments, told Vremya Novostei yesterday, Donald Rumsfeld's latest statements are most likely caused by inconsistency in the Republicans' election strategy. But “after the opinion of the first person of the state was asked, the words were taken back.” The Russian expert believes: “Rumsfeld’s reservation is unlikely to affect Bush’s pre-election chances, which are still very great - no matter how much you say that the war in Iraq is an unjustified aggression, Americans today feel more protected. After all, in the three years since September 11, 2001, there was neither Dubrovka nor Beslan in the United States.”
Battle of the Vice Presidents
Late yesterday evening, a televised debate between the candidates for the post of Vice President of the United States was scheduled in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican Dick Cheney and Democrat John Edwards faced off in a head-to-head debate; they had to argue about domestic and foreign policy. The theme of the war in Iraq promised to become central. The background to the confrontation in Cleveland was the hostile personal relationships of the candidates. Cheney, 63, has been in politics for more than 30 years and is considered a mentor to President Bush. Before joining Bush's team, Cheney was the executive director of Halliburton, which received good contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq. John Edwards, 51, is serving as a senator for the first time. Previously, he was a prominent defense attorney in cases involving deaths and injuries suffered by children during childbirth due to medical malpractice. Thanks to Edwards, the clinics paid $60 million to the victims. Now Edwards accuses Cheney of lobbying for Halliburton's interests in Washington without selfishness. Cheney responds by saying that thanks to the cleverness of lawyer Edwards, gynecologists are afraid of lawsuits and are leaving the profession, and the cost of health insurance is rising. Andrey ZLOBIN Andrey ZLOBIN |
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