U.S. links Iraq war to 9/11 terror strike
Murky intelligence key: Wolfowitz
TIM HARPER
WASHINGTON BUREAU
Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz has directly linked the war on Iraq to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, signalling another shift in Washington's defence of a conflict that continues to claim American lives.
Wolfowitz, in a series of interviews on U.S. television networks yesterday, appeared to ignore intelligence reports, which have discredited links between Iraq and Al Qaeda and the war on terrorism.
He sought to defend President George W. Bush's administration against charges that it had misled Americans on the threat posed by deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, saying the government cannot wait for "murky" intelligence to crystallize because it may be too late.
"The battle to secure the peace in Iraq is now the central battle on the war on terrorism," Wolfowitz said on Meet the Press.
"Stop and think, if in 2001, or in 2000, or in 1999, we had gone to war in Afghanistan to deal with Osama bin Laden, and we had tried to say it's because he's planning to kill 3,000 people in New York, people would have said, you don't have any proof of that," he said.
"I think the lesson of Sept. 11 is that you can't wait until proof after the fact.
"It surprises me sometimes that people have forgotten so soon what Sept. 11, I think, should have taught us about terrorism," he added.
"And that's what this is all about," he said.
And what was the proof of Iraq's handing over WMDs to al Qaeda before the fact?
(Short pause here to shrug your shoulders, grab your head and shake it several times)
Every day I'm handed proof that these people are insane.
