Originally posted by MrLars
...no cowboy antics from this straight shooter!
hmm
wasn't to straight when he dribbled this out:
Meet the Press - 6/15/2003
MR. RUSSERT: Hyped by whom?
GEN. CLARK: Well, I...
MR. RUSSERT: The CIA, or the president or vice president? Secretary of
Defense, who?
GEN. CLARK: I think it was an effort to convince the American people to do
something, and I think there was an immediate determination right after
9/11 that Saddam Hussein was one of the keys to winning the war on terror.
Whether it was the need just to strike out or whether he was a linchpin in
this, there was a concerted effort during the fall of 2001 starting
immediately after 9/11 to pin 9/11 and the terrorism problem on Saddam
Hussein.
MR. RUSSERT: By who? Who did that?
GEN. CLARK:
Well, it came from the White House, it came from people around
the White House. It came from all over. I got a call on 9/11. I was on
CNN, and I got a call at my home saying, "You got to say this is
connected. This is state-sponsored terrorism. This has to be connected to
Saddam Hussein." I said, "But -- I'm willing to say it but what's your
evidence?" And I never got any evidence. And these were people who had --
Middle East think tanks and people like this and it was a lot of pressure
to connect this and there were a lot of assumptions made. But I never
personally saw the evidence and didn't talk to anybody who had the
evidence to make that connection.
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