WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration Wednesday night released the first declassified documents collected by U.S. intelligence during the Iraq war, showing among other things that Saddam Hussein's regime was monitoring reports that Iraqis and Saudis were heading to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks to fight U.S. troops.

The documents, the first of thousands expected to be declassified over the next several months, were released via a Pentagon Web site at the direction of National Intelligence Director John Negroponte.

Many were in Arabic - with no English translation - including one the administration said showed that Iraqi intelligence officials suspected al-Qaida members were inside Iraq in 2002.

The Pentagon Web site described that document this way: "2002 Iraqi Intelligence Correspondence concerning the presence of al-Qaida Members in Iraq. Correspondence between IRS members on a suspicion, later confirmed, of the presence of an Al-Qaeda terrorist group. Moreover, it includes photos and names."

The release of the documents, expected to continue for months, is designed to allow lawmakers and the public to investigate what documents from Saddam's regime claimed about such controversial issues as weapons of mass destruction and al-Qaida in the period before the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003.

The Web site cautioned that the U.S. government "has made no determination regarding the authenticity of the documents, validity or factual accuracy of the information contained therein, or the quality of any translations, when available."

A handful of prewar Iraq government documents released Wednesday had been translated into English.

They included one Iraqi intelligence document indicating Saddam's feared Fedayeen paramilitary forces were investigating rumors in the fall of 2001 that as many as 3,000 Iraqis and Saudis were going to fight in Afghanistan after the U.S. invasion.

"In the report on the status of rumors for November of 2001 regarding Fedayeen Saddam in al-Anbar, there is an entry that indicates that there is a group of Iraqi and Saudi Arabians numbering around 3,000 who have gone in an unofficial capacity to Afghanistan and have joined the mujahidin (mujahedeen, or holy warriors) to fight with and aid them in defeating the American Zionist Imperialist attack," the translated document stated.

"After presenting the matter to the Supervisor of Fedayeen Saddam, he ordered that the matter should be looked into for verification of the truth of the rumor," the translation said.

House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., requested the release of millions pages of documents and audio recordings captured during current and previous U.S. military operations in Iraq. Most have sat untranslated for years.

Last weekend, Negroponte agreed to set aside money and establish a system to make the documents available to the media, academics and other researchers.

In a statement, Hoekstra welcomed the chance to answer questions about prewar Iraq. "Whether Saddam Hussein destroyed Iraq's weapons of mass destruction or hid or transferred them, the most important thing is we discover the truth of what was happening in the country prior to the war," he said. Source

View the declassified documents HERE.

____ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________________


So...what do you all think now ?

Is there justification for this war contained in these documents ?

This is part of what we've been asking for...

I dunno why the whole thing is linking...

The syntax is: [URL = http://tinyurl.com/jgjq8 ] HERE [/URL]

Without the spaces...no logical reason why it should be linking.

quote:

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Originally posted by Digital_Savior:
The Web site cautioned that the U.S. government "has made no determination regarding the authenticity of the documents, validity or factual accuracy of the information contained therein, or the quality of any translations, when available."

---

Kinda nullifies the whole point doesn't it?

It would take the Bush administration to release a bunch of "proof", then say that its not really sure if its accurate.

quote:

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originally posted by Digital_Savior:
So...what do you all think now ?

Is there justification for this war contained in these documents ?

This is part of what we've been asking for...

---

How is this "part of what we've been asking for"? All that may have been revealed so far from these completely unauthenticated documents is that supposedly "Fedayeen paramilitary forces were investigating rumors in the fall of 2001 that as many as 3,000 Iraqis and Saudis were going to fight in Afghanistan after the U.S. invasion." Considering practically every country at the time was investigating similar activity, it's hardly any kind of "proof."

And yet they have refused to release the minutes of the Energy talks and even the participants and they still are holding up the release of the Reagan presidential papers.

Can we say 'A bunch of self-serving lying criminals'?

So no I am impressed not.

All that proves is Saddam, in fact, did NOT have any Al Qaeda ties... he was investigating reports that Iraqis and Saudis went to Afghanistan UNOFFICIALLY... Seriously, if thats your "proof" you have a pretty sorry arguement.

quote:

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Originally posted by Fascistsmasher:
All that proves is Saddam, in fact, did NOT have any Al Qaeda ties... he was investigating reports that Iraqis and Saudis went to Afghanistan UNOFFICIALLY... Seriously, if thats your "proof" you have a pretty sorry arguement.

---

truth

quote:

---

Originally posted by Digital_Savior:
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration Wednesday night released the first declassified documents collected by U.S. intelligence during the Iraq war, showing among other things that Saddam Hussein's regime was monitoring reports that Iraqis and Saudis were heading to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks to fight U.S. troops.

The documents, the first of thousands expected to be declassified over the next several months, were released via a Pentagon Web site at the direction of National Intelligence Director John Negroponte.

Many were in Arabic - with no English translation - including one the administration said showed that Iraqi intelligence officials suspected al-Qaida members were inside Iraq in 2002.

The Pentagon Web site described that document this way: "2002 Iraqi Intelligence Correspondence concerning the presence of al-Qaida Members in Iraq. Correspondence between IRS members on a suspicion, later confirmed, of the presence of an Al-Qaeda terrorist group. Moreover, it includes photos and names."

The release of the documents, expected to continue for months, is designed to allow lawmakers and the public to investigate what documents from Saddam's regime claimed about such controversial issues as weapons of mass destruction and al-Qaida in the period before the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003.

The Web site cautioned that the U.S. government "has made no determination regarding the authenticity of the documents, validity or factual accuracy of the information contained therein, or the quality of any translations, when available."

A handful of prewar Iraq government documents released Wednesday had been translated into English.

They included one Iraqi intelligence document indicating Saddam's feared Fedayeen paramilitary forces were investigating rumors in the fall of 2001 that as many as 3,000 Iraqis and Saudis were going to fight in Afghanistan after the U.S. invasion.

"In the report on the status of rumors for November of 2001 regarding Fedayeen Saddam in al-Anbar, there is an entry that indicates that there is a group of Iraqi and Saudi Arabians numbering around 3,000 who have gone in an unofficial capacity to Afghanistan and have joined the mujahidin (mujahedeen, or holy warriors) to fight with and aid them in defeating the American Zionist Imperialist attack," the translated document stated.

"After presenting the matter to the Supervisor of Fedayeen Saddam, he ordered that the matter should be looked into for verification of the truth of the rumor," the translation said.

House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., requested the release of millions pages of documents and audio recordings captured during current and previous U.S. military operations in Iraq. Most have sat untranslated for years.

Last weekend, Negroponte agreed to set aside money and establish a system to make the documents available to the media, academics and other researchers.

In a statement, Hoekstra welcomed the chance to answer questions about prewar Iraq. "Whether Saddam Hussein destroyed Iraq's weapons of mass destruction or hid or transferred them, the most important thing is we discover the truth of what was happening in the country prior to the war," he said. Source

View the declassified documents HERE.

____ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________________


So...what do you all think now ?

Is there justification for this war contained in these documents ?

This is part of what we've been asking for...

---

Wait, wait , wait, I thought that the war in Iraq was a horrible, selfish war created by the U.S to further our ends of world domination. There was a reason? Liberals can lie?! No way . *gasps at the thought of it*.

quote:

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Originally posted by Digital_Savior:
Many were in Arabic - with no English translation - including one the administration said showed that Iraqi intelligence officials suspected al-Qaida members were inside Iraq in 2002.

---

What does this really mean if Iraq doesn't have formal connections with them?

Well we allready know that even the weapons he probably had, he could barely launch out of his own border. Condi made that very clear, and it's on tape. We also know that whether they were remnemts of biological weapons or just missiles, the term W.M.D was just a euphamism used to scare people.

Also, there was obviously a 'relationship' between groups like Al Qaida, and yes such groups we're probably operating to an extent in Iraq. However considering Saddam was a crazy secular persecutor of religion, him and such groups would be on hostile terms, not in a partnership. The funny thing is, it's this war that has brought the real flood of all these terrorist groups, and has undoubtably strengthened the militant Islamic movement across the globe. Then again, the specificaly Straussian sect of neo-cons, advocates maintaining a constant enemy, and create one if need be, and many prominent neo-cons are Straussians.

Also, why did they have too keep switching arguments.
first argument, Al Qauida Saddam connection, didn't hold water.

Second argument, Wmd's didn't hold water, not that they allowed the weapons inspector any time (the congo is much smaller than Iraq, not filled with desert and mountains and apparently took about a year to inspect, whereas Bush couldn't wait a few months in Iraq).

So finally after all else fails, the third argument. We're liberating them.



[This message has been edited by great_sage=heaven (edited 03-17-2006).]

this is your "democracy" in iraq...."interior ministry death-squads"


"interior ministry death-squads" ....
..."interior ministry death-squads"

i think that phrase neatly sums up what is happening in Iraq at the moment.

So...what do you all think now ?


originally posted by FuzzBall:
[quote]
Is there justification for this war contained in these documents ?

This is part of what we've been asking for...

Wait, wait , wait, I thought that the war in Iraq was a horrible, selfish war created by the U.S to further our ends of world domination. There was a reason? Liberals can lie?! No way . *gasps at the thought of it*.
[quote]

Like the WMD's was not a bunch of lies used by Bush.

Like the original story the DOD released about Pat Tillman's death was not a lie. And also the second one.

I could write many more examples of lies by Bush and Wolfowitz and Rummy - but Sephie would just say "Paranoid Delusion - Paranoid Delusion!!!!!11"

quote:

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Originally posted by LordShadow:
Kinda nullifies the whole point doesn't it?

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No. It is yet another protection mechanism, and there is already an organization that has been hired to translate the documents that have not yet been translated.

It will all be available in due time.

It's hilarious, when we wanted to get permission to invade Iraq why couldn't the bush administration come up with these before now, 3 years into the damn war. Oh wait, I know why, ooo pick me, pick me. It's the same with the bible, the documents are farce, fabricated by the government to get people to belive everything they say.

"When a government fears it's people you have liberty, when the people fear their government you have Tyranny." -Thomas Jefferson

quote:

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Originally posted by Atomical:
What does this really mean if Iraq doesn't have formal connections with them?

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Iraq does.

Wake up.

Odd, because Iraq's former leadership and Al Queda were two different and very unfriendly factions of Islam. Their mutual hatred of the US would never have been enough to unite the two. Maybe on the ground there were unofficial connections between local Shia's and Al Queda but I will personally gaurentee you that there was nothing official. Saddam wouldn't have stood for it, the last thing he wanted was a motivated, armed and experienced Islamic movement within his country.

Don't you conservatives get it?

quote:

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Originally posted by Apoxyus:
It's the same with the bible, the documents are farce, fabricated by the government to get people to belive everything they say.

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You heard it here first, folks: the government wrote the Bible.

quote:

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Originally posted by Digital_Savior:
Iraq does.

Wake up.

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You have presented no proof and all administration officials deny that Iraq had connections to terrorist organizations.

quote:

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Originally posted by buttthrax:
You heard it here first, folks: the government wrote the Bible.

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Umm, hey dipshit, You ever heard of the "King James" version of the bible. He put his own little twist in the bible, so yeah he wrote part of the bible. He is a government body, is he not?

Obviously Saddaam had relationships and probably previous talks with Al Qaida, but the two were enemies, murderous secular despot, and religious fundamentalists to not get along, that and the fact that there's no proof.

quote:

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Originally posted by great_sage=heaven:
Obviously Saddaam had relationships and probably previous talks with Al Qaida, but the two were enemies, murderous secular despot, and religious fundamentalists to not get along, that and the fact that there's no proof.

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Charles Dulfer said this much on Charlie Rose not too many nights ago. To paraphrase Dulfer: Saddam realized that if he supported Al Qaeda, that in the event of a terrorist attack, it would be traced back to Iraq.