George Bush misled nation in run-up to Iraq war: US Senator
13 Dec 2014 11:44 PM GMT
In a speech on the Senate floor, retiring Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat, outlined a 2003 CIA cable that warns George W. Bush Administration officials against making references to claims that Mohammad Atta - the man who led the September 11 hijackers - met with an Iraqi intelligence officer in the Czech Republic before the September 11, 2011, attacks. Levin claims Bush officials used the unconfirmed meeting to link Iraq to September 11 to justify the US invasion of Iraq.
“There was a concerted campaign on the part of the Bush administration to connect Iraq in the public mind with the horror of the September 11 attacks. That campaign succeeded,” said Levin, who cited opinion polls from that time showing many Americans believed former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was involved in the attacks.
“Of course, connections between Saddam and 9/11 or Al Qaeda were fiction.”
He referenced a December 9, 2001, appearance by Vice President Dick Cheney on “Meet the Press.” Cheney said: “It’s been pretty well confirmed that he (Atta) did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Czechoslovakia last April, several months before the attack.”
“Far from ‘pretty well confirmed,’ there was almost no evidence that such a meeting took place,” Levin said. “Just a single, unsubstantiated report, from a single source, and a mountain of information indicating there was no such meeting. ... Travel and other records indicated that Atta was almost certainly in the United States at the time of the purported meeting in Prague.”
Levin released a letter he received earlier this year from CIA Director John Brennan.
“There was a concerted campaign on the part of the Bush administration to connect Iraq in the public mind with the horror of the September 11 attacks. That campaign succeeded,” said Levin, who cited opinion polls from that time showing many Americans believed former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was involved in the attacks.
“Of course, connections between Saddam and 9/11 or Al Qaeda were fiction.”
He referenced a December 9, 2001, appearance by Vice President Dick Cheney on “Meet the Press.” Cheney said: “It’s been pretty well confirmed that he (Atta) did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Czechoslovakia last April, several months before the attack.”
“Far from ‘pretty well confirmed,’ there was almost no evidence that such a meeting took place,” Levin said. “Just a single, unsubstantiated report, from a single source, and a mountain of information indicating there was no such meeting. ... Travel and other records indicated that Atta was almost certainly in the United States at the time of the purported meeting in Prague.”
Levin released a letter he received earlier this year from CIA Director John Brennan.
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