Times still trying to fuzz up panels agreement with the administration

The NY Times headline reads:

9/11 Panel Chiefs Reiterate Position on Qaeda-Iraq Ties


If you read Friday's story in the times you might think they think the administration mislead the country about Iraq's ties with al Qaeda. But you would be wrong:

The leaders of the Sept. 11 commission reiterated today that they did not see any evidence of a collaborative relationship between Al Qaeda and Iraq's Saddam Hussein, and that this position did not differ from the view of the Bush administration.

...

Mr. Hamilton said he had looked at the statements "quite carefully" from the administration. "They are not claiming there was a collaborative relationship between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda with regard to the attacks on the United States," he said.

He later added that with regard to the administration's core statements, "I don't think there is a difference of opinion with regard to those statements."


Well, it looks like the reporter got the story straight this time, but the headline writer is still trying to mislead.

A Reuters story in the NY Times reveals further info:

The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks has been told ``a very prominent member'' of al Qaeda served as an officer in Saddam Hussein's militia, a panel member said on Sunday.

Republican commissioner John Lehman told NBC's ``Meet the Press'' program that the new intelligence, if proven true, buttresses claims by the Bush administration of ties between Iraq and the militant network believed responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America.

...

``Some of these documents indicate that (there was) at least one officer of Saddam's Fedayeen, a lieutenant colonel, who was a very prominent member of al Qaeda,'' Lehman said.

``That still has to be confirmed, but the vice president (Dick Cheney) was right when he said that he may have things that we don't yet have,'' said Lehman, a former Navy secretary.


This sounds like the guy Stephen Hayes, of the Weekly Standard, has been writing about for months. You would think that someone on the 9-11 commission would read his book.

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