Brokaw gets it wrong to Allawi
James Joyner reports on NBC News' anchor Tom Brokaw's interview with new Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, "who still believes that Saddam was connected to al-Qaida." Quoting MSNBC:

Brokaw: I know that you and others like you are grateful for the liberation of Iraq. But can’t you understand why many Americans feel that so many young men and women have died here for purposes other than protecting the United States?

Allawi: We know that this is an extension to what has happened in New York. And — the war have been taken out to Iraq by the same terrorists. Saddam was a potential friend and partner and natural ally of terrorism.

Brokaw: Prime minister, I’m surprised that you would make the connection between 9/11 and the war in Iraq. The 9/11 commission in America says there is no evidence of a collaborative relationship between Saddam Hussein and those terrorists of al-Qaida.

Allawi: No. I believe very strongly that Saddam had relations with al-Qaida. And these relations started in Sudan. ...

Lay aside the breathtaking arrogance of an American newsreader trying to tell a head of state what he should think about one of the most important issues facing the prime minister's country. The fact is that Brokaw was flat wrong about what the 9/11 Commission said.

Bill Hobbs has the story that Brokaw missed:

Perhaps they should have more carefully read Staff Statement #15, Overview of the Enemy, especially this brief section from page 3:

With al Qaeda as its foundation, Bin Ladin sought to build a broader Islamic army that also included terrorist groups from Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Oman, Tunisia, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Somalia and Eritrea. Not all groups from these states agreed to join, but at least one from each did. With a multinational council intended to promote common gooals, coordinate targeting and authorize asset sharing for terrorist operations, this Islamic force represented a new level of collaboration among diverse terrorist groups.

The prospect of future coordination, asset-sharing and collaboration between al Qaeda and a weapons-of-mass-destruction-producing/Islamist terrorism-supporting/America-hating Saddam Hussein resulting in an attack on America more horrifying and deadly than 9/11 was the underlying reason - the "grave and gathering danger" - that President Bush stressed as the reason we must remove Saddam from power.

He was right. And 9/11 Commission Staff Statement #15 makes that very clear.

Further deponent sayeth not.

Update: I wrote about media bias yesterday and last month discussed basic issue for news media regarding the terror war, in which I said, and stand by, "Which outcome do you want? It is not possible to pretend neutrality here, for the power of the media to frame the public's debate is too great to claim you are merely being "fair and balanced." There literally is no neutral ground here, no "God's eye view" of events, and hence no possibility of not taking sides."

Update: Actually, the Commission's statement is not quite so clear. I posted a brief look at connections between al Qaeda, Saddam and Ansar al-Islam as a follow-up piece. Ansar al-Islam was an al Qaeda affiliate or actual member group operating in northern Iraq, principally against the free Kurds under allied protection after 1991's Gulf War.

by Donald Sensing, 6/30/2004 03:02:32 PM. Permalink |