Monday, June 21, 2004
Aides Contradict Kerry on Iraq-al Qaida Connection
NewsMax: When they worked for the Clinton administration, Kerry advisers Sandy Berger and Jamie Rubin argued that Iraq helped al Qaida make deadly VX gas at a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant - an argument they used to justify President Clinton's decision to take out the facility in an Aug. 20, 1998, cruise missile attack.
While Sen. John Kerry has accused the Bush administration of misleading America by falsely claiming there were operational ties between Iraq and al Qaida.
In a 1998 op-ed to the Washington Times, then National Security Advisor Berger defended the attack on Khartoum's al Shifa pharmaceutical plant, contending:
"Other products [besides VX gas] were made at Al Shifa. But we have seen such dual-use plants before - in Iraq. And, indeed, we have information that Iraq has assisted in chemical weapons activity in Sudan."
As State Department spokesman at the time, Rubin and his boss, Madeleine Albright, backed Berger's position on the attacks.
On Friday, Weekly Standard editor Stephen Hayes, who first noted the Kerry-Berger/Rubin contradiction, confronted Rubin on the issue during an interview on CNBC.
The Kerry adviser admitted that "Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein played footsie with each other," but he insisted that ultimately "they came to a decision, and the decision was 'We are not going to become allies.'"
NewsMax: When they worked for the Clinton administration, Kerry advisers Sandy Berger and Jamie Rubin argued that Iraq helped al Qaida make deadly VX gas at a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant - an argument they used to justify President Clinton's decision to take out the facility in an Aug. 20, 1998, cruise missile attack.
While Sen. John Kerry has accused the Bush administration of misleading America by falsely claiming there were operational ties between Iraq and al Qaida.
In a 1998 op-ed to the Washington Times, then National Security Advisor Berger defended the attack on Khartoum's al Shifa pharmaceutical plant, contending:
"Other products [besides VX gas] were made at Al Shifa. But we have seen such dual-use plants before - in Iraq. And, indeed, we have information that Iraq has assisted in chemical weapons activity in Sudan."
As State Department spokesman at the time, Rubin and his boss, Madeleine Albright, backed Berger's position on the attacks.
On Friday, Weekly Standard editor Stephen Hayes, who first noted the Kerry-Berger/Rubin contradiction, confronted Rubin on the issue during an interview on CNBC.
The Kerry adviser admitted that "Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein played footsie with each other," but he insisted that ultimately "they came to a decision, and the decision was 'We are not going to become allies.'"
