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Tuesday, November 18th, 2003

Pentagon Debunks Reports on Osama-Saddam Ties

Some Outlets Run With 'Weekly Standard' Story

By Seth Porges

NEW YORK --

Several newspapers and other media outlets had egg on their face
Monday after reporting or endorsing a Weekly Standard story revealing
new evidence of an "operational relationship" between Saddam Hussein
and Osama Bin Laden.

Several outlets, including the New York Post, The Washington Times and
FOX News, ran with the story.

There was just one problem:

On Saturday, the Pentagon issued a press release stating that "news
reports that the Defense Department recently confirmed new information
with respect to contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq ... are
inaccurate."

Despite this, the New York Post on Monday titled its editorial on the
subject:

"Bush Was Right."

In the current Nov. 24 issue of the conservative journal The Weekly
Standard, Stephen F. Hayes writes that Osama bin Laden and Saddam
Hussein "had an operational relationship from the early 1990s to 2003
that involved training in explosives and weapons of mass destruction,
logistical support for terrorist attacks, al Qaeda training camps and
safe haven in Iraq, and Iraqi financial support for al Qaeda."

The magazine's revelations allegedly came from a "top secret U.S.
government memorandum obtained by The Weekly Standard."

The Pentagon press release, however, states that the classified
sections of the document contained "raw reports" and "was not an
analysis of the substantive issue of the relationship between Iraq and
al Qaida and it drew no conclusions."

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So it was all just another pile of right wing manure.

Harry