Home > Knowledge Is Preemption
On Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney declared that
Saddam Hussein "had long-established ties with Al
Qaeda." A day later, President Bush pointed to Islamic
militant Abu Musab Zarqawi, who may be hiding in
Fallouja. "Zarqawi’s the best evidence of a connection
to Al Qaeda affiliates and Al Qaeda" in Iraq, he
declared.
It’s hard to imagine that either Bush or Cheney had an
inkling of what an interim staff report of the
independent 9/11 commission would say Wednesday. There
is "no credible evidence that Iraq and Al Qaeda
cooperated on attacks against the United States," the
new report states. In fact, prewar Iraq spurned Al
Qaeda’s overtures. Though Zarqawi may be directing
attacks against Americans in Iraq, and Baghdad may now
be Terror Central, it is a consequence of the war
itself.
On the other hand, the staff said, Al Qaeda probably
forged ties early on with Hezbollah, the global terror
group blamed for many of the attacks inside Israel.
Those ties were not uncovered before 9/11. On the
luckier side, a plan by the 9/11 terrorists for a much
wider attack, involving 10 planes and other cities
including Los Angeles, was scrapped by internal dissent
and leadership doubts. Given that the Pentagon’s air
defenses were almost nonexistent on Sept. 11, according
to the staff, any number of planes might have reached
their targets.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the North
American Aerospace Defense Command are predictably
trying to play down their ineffectiveness, and the
commission had to issue subpoenas to officers of the FAA
and the command to appear before the panel today.
Fortunately, the commission shows no signs of being
cowed. Similarly, the CIA is trying to shield itself
from blame. The agency has decided that about one-third
of the commission’s prospective final report should
remain secret. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), who heads the
committee, should bluntly remind the CIA that it can
edit out vital secrets but not embarrassment.
There are plenty of signs that Al Qaeda and its
offshoots plan more violence against the U.S. The
commission cites evidence that the terrorists are
seeking nuclear, chemical and biological materials, a
sort of gruesome twist on the shoddy prewar accusations
that Iraq possessed such weapons and intended to use
them against the U.S or furnish them to terrorists. As
Bush himself declared in his State of the Union speech
before the war: "It would take one vial, one canister,
one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of
horror like none we have ever known."
Despite the administration’s continued attempts to
justify the war, it’s become increasingly obvious that
Iraq was not intent on creating that day. Al Qaeda is. A
full accounting from the commission and the Senate can’t
single-handedly prevent such a disaster, but it can help
avoid a repetition of dangerous errors.