Clark Linked Iraq and Al Qaeda in '02
Clark's having consistency problems:The statement by General Clark in October 2002 as he endorsed a New Hampshire candidate for Congress is a sign of how the general's position on Iraq seems to have changed over time, though he insists his position has been consistent.Update: Clark is now saying that his current position that there wasn't any link between Iraq and al Qaida is perfectly consistent with his '02 position that there was a link. At least, when someone says, "Certainly there's a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida" I take it to mean that there was a link. His song and dance now includes such phrases as "It would be naive to think the Iraqi intelligence agency never tracked anyone from al-Qaida" and "I've always said there's no relationship"."Certainly there's a connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda," he said in 2002. "It doesn't surprise me at all that they would be talking to Al Qaeda, that there would be some Al Qaeda there or that Saddam Hussein might even be, you know, discussing gee, I wonder since I don't have any scuds and since the Americans are coming at me, I wonder if I could take advantage of Al Qaeda? How would I do it? Is it worth the risk? What could they do for me?"
At numerous campaign events in the past three months and in a book published last year, General Clark has asserted that there was no evidence linking Iraq and Al Qaeda. He has also accused the Bush administration of executing "a world-class bait-and-switch," by using the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as an excuse to invade Iraq.
Blog post #2178 in category
Races of '04
posted 12 January 04