A number of diaries have commented on the story of Iran-Al Qaeda connection. The reports are appearing everywhyere and they go something like
this
Iran allowed eight Sept. 11 hijackers to cross its borders in the year before the terrorist attacks, but there is no proof that it took part in the plot, the acting director of the CIA said Sunday.
''We have ample evidence of people being able to move back and forth'' across Iran, John McLaughlin said. But, he said, ''we have no evidence that there is some sort of official connection between Iran and 9/11.''
Now my question about all this is why has this portion of the 9/11 commission report been leaked and why is the SCLM falling for it again?
First on the question of the leak. The actual report will be out Thursday when we will know exactly what it says. But someone preying on the media's insatiable thirst to be first has put this out with a very specific spin. Namely, that there is some sort of connection between Iran and 9/11.
The pattern is familiar. Those that want a hardline against Iran (or was that Iraq) begin associating Iran and 9/11 by proximity. The President, avoids lying directly but
U.S. President George W. Bush says Washington is investigating whether Tehran played a role in the September 11 attacks, and has accused Iran of harboring members of al Qaeda... "As to direct connections to September 11, we're digging into the facts to determine if there was one," Bush said on Monday.
And viola before long the kool aid drinkers are convinced that Iran was behind 9/11 or as Yogi would say "Deja Vous all over again".
Now it was just last month that we had the NYT's mea culpa for being led around on Iraq by the nose. Yet no one in the media looks at this story and asks why is this being leaked? Is someone trying to put a spin on this before we get the chance to read it ourselves?