Yesterday, Wednesday October 20th, Kerry gave a speech in Waterloo, IA titled "
A Fresh Start: Succeeding In Iraq And Winning Against Terrorism". It was a hard hitting, important speech that addressed an issue that many Americans are not aware of; that before the war terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was operating out of North-Eastern Iraq, near the area controlled by the Kurds, and US no flight zones, where Saddam had no influence. According to
this MSNBC piece, "before the war the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist operation and perhaps kill Zarqawi himself -- but never pulled the trigger".
In yesterdays speech Kerry addressed this fact,
but it has gotten little media play (if any at all). Here are the relevant excerpts:
Here's what Americans have learned over the past two weeks:
...
A CIA report found no clear link between Saddam's regime and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist behind the beheadings of Americans in Iraq and now an al Qaeda ally.
Before the war, the administration claimed that Zarqawi's presence in Iraq was proof of an Al Qaeda-Saddam collaboration. That was wrong.
In fact, Zarqawi was operating out of a no-man's land in North Eastern Iraq... next to territory controlled by America's Kurdish allies... not by Saddam. He and his terrorist allies were reportedly producing Ricin, a horrific biological weapon. We could have... but did not... take them out. That was a terrible mistake that this administration has never explained.
This is an issue that I believe most dailyKos readers are aware of, but it astounds me how little people know about it in general. I think it is very important. It highlights that fact that the Bush administration's main concern is not fighting terrorists at all. To take out Zarqawi before the war would have gotten in the way of their plans to invade Iraq, and the latter was clearly more important to them. I am very relieved to see Kerry addressing this major oversite by our current leaders, I only hope the media picks up on it.
Update [2004-10-21 15:25:50 by mad cowan]:
Liberal Oasis
writes about this same subject today, much more eloquently than I. Thanks
Jugwine