Beyond F-you gate

Vice President Richard Cheney appears to have gone completely nuts

Dana Milbank writes

Countering the staff of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, which found no "collaborative relationship" between Hussein's Iraq and al Qaeda, Cheney renewed his accusation that they had "long-established ties." He listed several examples and stated: "In the early 1990s, Saddam had sent a brigadier general in the Iraqi intelligence service to Sudan to train al Qaeda in bombmaking and document forgery."

Senior intelligence officials said yesterday that they had no knowledge of this.

Not good to get called that quick, but why did he think anyone would buy it. I've read "Plan of Attack," I know Mr Cheney has trouble with the concept of chain of command (as in the President conducts foreign policy with the advice and consent of the Senate and the Vice President does not). Still he must know that brigadier generals don't train people in bombmaking and document forgery. Hell there aren't many brigadier generals who know how to make bombs or forge documents with their own hands. Those skill s are more likely to be found in lower pay grades.

It's sounds to me like he can't keep two stories straight. First, it is generally known that an Iraqi general talked to Osama Bin Laden in Sudan in the early 90s. It is not so clear if he went beyond asking Bin Laden to stop supporting anti Ba'athists in Iraq There is no evidence Iraq gave al Qaeda anything in exchange, and it is clear that Bin Laden requests were not granted. Second, it is also true that, faced with "aggressive interrogations techniques" one Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi claimed
that Iraq had offered "chemical or biological weapons training to al Qaeda. However "he "subsequently recounted a different story," said one U.S. official. "It's not clear which version is correct. We are still sorting this out." Some officials now suspect that al-Libi, facing aggressive interrogation techniques, had previously said what U.S. officials wanted to hear."