The Truth on Terrorism and Iraq
September 11 and Al Qaeda The September 11 attacks were planned and carried out by operatives of Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda is a militant organization led by a Saudi Arabian citizen named Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden, whose family is well connected to other rich families in Saudi Arabia, including the royal family, believes in a conservative interpretation of Islam and sees outsiders like the United States as infidels. Al Qaeda's goal is to rid the Muslim world of western influences that corrupt the purity of Islam. Al Qaeda targets the United States because the United States supports governments, like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which Bin Laden considers insufficiently religious. Bin Laden and Al Qaeda want the United States out of the Middle East. Al Qaeda's primary physical base was in Afghanistan but it had other bases in lawless areas around the world, including Sudan and Indonesia. With the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2002, it is believed that Al Qaeda has moved some of its people and organization to the borderlands of Pakistan. For further info or fact checking... The British Broadcasting Corporation on Al Qaeda Jane's Information Group on Al Qaeda The Saudi connection. Fifteen of the hijackers were Saudi citizens. One was an Egyptian, one was from Lebanon, and two were from the United Arab Emirates. None were Iraqis. Much of the money funding Al Qaeda and other terrorists groups comes from rich families in Saudi Arabia who oppose their government's alliance with the United States. The Saudi government, while not supporting terrorism, espouses and spends money to export a conservative interpretation of Islam called Wahhabism. The Saudi government supports ultra-conservative Islamic groups around the globe who help to foster anti-American and anti-western attitudes in the Muslim world. Saudi support for extremist groups and ideas is a serious problem for America and a major cause of terrorism's spread. For further info or fact checking... The Christian Science Monitor on Al Qaeda activity in Saudi Arabia The British Mirror on Al Qaeda and Saudi Arabia The Iraq connection. There is no Iraq connection to 9/11. Iraq was run as a secular dictatorship; Al Qaeda is a conservative religious organization. Saddam Hussein believed in his own personal rule; Osama bin Laden wants to create religious governments through the Middle East, including in Iraq. Osama bin Laden had repeatedly and publicly condemned Saddam Hussein for opposing bin Laden's goals. The recent 9/11 Report by the 9/11 Commission, a commission chaired by Republican Thomas Keane (former governor of New Jersey), found no substantive connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda and no connection between Iraq and the 9/11 attacks. The Report, endorsed unanimously by the ten commission members (five Republican, five Democrat), states "Nor have we seen evidence indicating that Iraq cooperated with al Qaeda in developing or carrying out any attacks against the United States" (page 66). For further info or fact checking... The 9/11 Commission web site, including the full text of the report. Buy the 9/11 Commission Report Iraq as a threat Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction. In 2003, after America's conquest of Iraq, the United States sent in a 1400 person team (the Iraq Survey Group, or ISG) led by David Kay, a scientist with a long history of working in weapons inspection. Kay's team found no significant quantities of weapons of mass destruction (this information has been widely published in the news media, but generally ignored by the Bush administration). They did find some small quantities of banned substances (chemical) but none was available in large quantities or ready to be used as weapons. They found an Iraqi regime interested in maintaining the capacity to build weapons, but ill-equipped and poorly organized to do so. They also found an ongoing but limited missile program. They found no nuclear weapons or capacity to build nuclear weapons. This is why President Bush toned down his earlier statements that there definitely weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, instead saying, in the 2004 State of the Union Address, that there were "weapons of mass destruction program-related activities" (the same phrase is used in Kay's report). In July 2004, the Senate Intelligence Committee issued a lengthy report which also denied the existence of weapons of mass destruction, blaming the CIA for issuing bad intelligence analyses. Republican Senator Pat Roberts, the chair of the committee, said that "In the end, what the President and the Congress used to send the country to war was information provided by the intelligence community, and that information was flawed." For further info or fact checking... To download the Senate Intelligence Committee's report, go to their web site... David Kay's interim report on the CIA web site The 2003 State of the Union Speech by President Bush The 2004 State of the Union Speech by President Bush Our War in Iraq The American people supported the war in Iraq because they believed there was a connection between Iraq and 9/11. This was false. They were also told that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. This was also false. Saddam Hussein certainly was (and is) an evil man, but our war could not be justified on the grounds of self-defense. In invading Iraq we have done nothing to hurt the actual terrorist organizations who attacked us (who get their funding and support from elements in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan). Worse, we have helped Al Qaeda in its propaganda war against the United States. Young men across the Middle East now see us as an unjust aggressor. Our actions may have helped to inspire the next wave of suicide bombers. The war in Iraq has killed almost 1000 Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis while distracting the United States from the real terrorist threats around the globe. The war in Iraq has also been very expensive (144 Billion and counting), siphoning money away from other more terrorist-critical projects (like making sure our port cities are less vulnerable to sea-borne terrorist bombs, a job which could cost billions but which is currently only allocated millions). For further info or fact checking... In August 8, 2004's New York Times, there was an eyeopening graphic which details how the money on Iraq could have been spent to better fight terorrism. Warning for slow connections, it's a 300k file.		Iraq was not behind the September 11 attacks. Iraq was not allied to Al Qaeda. Iraq did not have Weapons of Mass Destruction and was not a threat to the United States. The war in Iraq has actually hurt the war on terrorism. This quick fact sheet was written to inform and counter the disinformation that has been distributed on Al Qaeda, Iraq, and Sept 11. To help readers who may not take my word for everything (smart readers), I've included a few starting places to check my info and conclusions. An informed electorate is a politician's nightmare. Carl Skutsch (the author) Comments may be sent to carl (a-t) wastedirony (d-o-t) com.

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