James Thompson former govener of Illinois and 9/11 commission member stated in an interview today that the New York Times, and other news reporting agencies jumped the gun by reporting misleading information to the American people in regards to the Iraq-Al-qaeda connection. He stated that many news agencies did not wait for the actual report to be released, before broadcasting their stories. What was actually stated in the report was that Iraq and Al-qaeda did not collaborate in regards the attacks on Sept.11th. What the report did state was that there was a connection between Iraq and Al-qaeda. One of the major players involved in this issue is Abu Musab al-Zarqawi a man with ties to Al-qaeda , who escaped from Afganistan after helping to set up al-qaeda training camps(connection there), and lost a leg in the process when the U.S. bombed Afganistan. He then fled to Iraq to receive medical treatment in a facility run by Uday Hussein(connection there).Why would he choose to flee to Iraq? I think it is safe to assume that he had connections there. He then was thought to be involved in the assassination of Laurence Foley. From there he decided to form an alliance with Ansar al-Islam an Iraqi terrorist organization(connection there). He is now suspected to be in Falluja with 2 former Iraqi generals, and has claimed responsibility for multiple bombings, and the assassination of Nick Berg(connections there). Did he just happen upon a couple of generals amidst the rubble? I think it is safe to assume he had made a few connections prior to fleeing to Iraq. There are also more interactions between Al-qaeda leader UBL and Iraq, prior to the war (connection there), but I'm a slow typer, and am not going to get into those details at this time, because I believe I made my point. I just think it is important to relate the facts, which is not what the papers have been doing in regards to this story. Everything that the administration has said involving a connection between Iraq and Al-qaeda has been accurate, even if the connections appear weak to certain individuals. I guess it all comes down to your own unique perspective of the situation and facts. IMO I think that it is irresponsible of the news papers to report misleading stories to the American public because of a partisan political views.
