Al-Qaeda in Iraq - Stretching the propaganda war to new heights of desperation?

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=326520

A number of senior al-Qa’ida figures have taken refuge inside Iraq and are being sheltered by Saddam Hussein, the United States government claimed yesterday.

The claim came as President George Bush met his senior military advisers in Texas and said the removal of the Iraqi President was “in the interests of the world”.

Unnamed US government officials said senior figures in Osama bin Laden’s organisation had entered Iraq after the US-led military operation in Afghanistan and their presence had been noted in a series of intelligence reports.

On Tuesday, the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, repeated claims that al-Qa’ida figures may be operating inside Iraq but declined to give details. He said it was very unlikely that President Saddam was not _ at the very least _ aware of their presence.

“I suppose that, at some moment, it may make sense to discuss that publicly,” said Mr Rumsfeld. “It doesn’t today. But what I have said is a fact: that there are al-Qa’ida in a number of locations in Iraq.”

But there was also scepticism about the reports on the presence of senior al-Qa’ida figures, first made in The Washington Post, with some observers saying it smacked too much of a deliberate leak.

“Recurring reports blaming Iraq for everything are giving Iraqi hardliners like myself a bad name, because some people do strain to find the smoking gun and they tend to cloud a lot of the good reasons for regime change.”

comment: unammed US officials, unamed, secret, we cannot give sources for security reasons, yeah we heard it all before now we waiting for another made in hollywood video of bin ladin sitting in one of saddams palaces no doubt!

Also heard from unamed sources al qaida on the planet mars anyone else heard this!

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YES! Al Qaida have become hi-tech and are using UFOs (also spotted in india ). They have causing mass delusions and strange patterns by landing their ships in crop fields. I expect Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum to save the world again :hehe:

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Does anyone here have evidence that al-Qa'ida members are not in Iraq?

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At the very least, they are in the North where the US has air superiority. There are supposed to be labs there. If the war on terror is on and we control this area, where is the news that we have flattened the lab? This should be a fait-accompli. Of course I don't have all the facts, but one would expect this to be something the US could do!

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Tomasso:
I've read some stuff that indicates the border regions of Iraq have been used as transit passages and perhaps layovers by Al Qaeda. (Sorry, I don't have links to share). I haven't seen anything that indicates Al Qaeda has established or is establishing permanent bases or training facilities or stuff like that. Nor have I read anything saying they are living freely in mass in cities like Bagdad.

I get a picture that is somewhat similar to Al Qaeda seeking refuge in the lawless border regions of Pakistan. To me, this "news" should be treated with a "well .. duh" sort of attitude. Al Qaeda remnants are probably dispersed in the border regions of a whole bunch of countries in the area.

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:rotfl: Easy go my friend :rotfl:

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by underthedome: *
Does anyone here have evidence that al-Qa'ida members are not in Iraq?
[/QUOTE]

man the title of the thread really does sum the americans as desperate!

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Osama declared war and the US has the right to attempt to neutralize the threat. The US ought to nail the lab as it is,not use it's presence as a pretext for a full on invasion, as Bush seems to be doing. Bloody politicians!