Saturday, August 25, 2007

Stephen Hayes Still Linking al-Qaeda and Iraq

Robbins: You can lie a thousand times—it doesn’t make it true.
Tim Robbins asks him to apologize to the American people for helping to deceive us into this mess when he wrote "The Connection: How al Qaeda's Collaboration with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America". Hayes refused and continued to assert the claim and the audience wasn't having any of it.

C&L has the video.

Robbins: You can lie a thousand times—it doesn’t make it true.

For the record, Tim Robbins, Bill Maher and Stephen Hayes could all be considered 'technically' correct, but in Stephen's case it's a stretch to be kind. Keane did say Iraq and al Qaeda affiliated persons had several “contacts” with each other but he also said there was never any evidence that the contacts produced any sort of “collaborative relationship” on any level. Anyone calling that a “relationship” is spinning the wrong way for sure, and you have to ask, why?

Here's a MUCH better example of a "relationship" with Saddam:

Guardian: Rumsfeld ‘offered help to Saddam’ *
Declassified papers leave the White House hawk exposed over his role during the Iran-Iraq war

WaPo: U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup *
Trade in Chemical Arms Allowed Despite Their Use on Iranians, Kurds
And from GWU's National Security Archive:

Saddam Hussein greets Donald Rumsfeld