While Bush Backed Away From Iraq - 9/11 Connection, Carl Cameron Continues to Promote the False Link
Reported by Janie - March 20, 2006
President Bush attempted to distance himself from comments he made during the build up to the Iraq war while speaking in Cleveland, Ohio today but apparently Fox didn't get the memo, and once again attempted to plant the seed that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11.
During Bush's speech today, an audience member queried "Before we went to war in Iraq we said there were three main reasons for going to war in Iraq: weapons of mass destruction, the claim that Iraq was sponsoring terrorists who had attacked us on 9/11, and that Iraq had purchased nuclear materials from Niger. All three of those turned out to be false. My question is, how do we restore confidence that Americans may have in their leaders and to be sure that the information they are getting now is correct?"
Bush attempted to clear up what he referred to as a "misperception" saying "I don't think we ever said -- at least I know I didn't say that there was a direct connection between September the 11th and Saddam Hussein."
Comment: In the Bush's letter to Congress dated March 21, 2003 the administration explicitly stated "I have also determined that the use of armed force against Iraq is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organiza-tions, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001."
Was Fox Correspondent Carl Cameron actually listening to the speech today, or is he still working off the original Presidential letter?
During a segment of Special Report with Brit Hume promoting Bush's speech and the Iraq war, Cameron attempted to link the Iraq war to 9/11 by saying, "Mr. Bush said it's not easy to capture such success on the evening news. Facing intense political attacks from Democrats who now call administration Iraq policy dangerously incompetent, Mr. Bush accused some critics of forgetting September 11th."
Cameron then inserted a clip of Bush from today's speech, "Look, I understand some don't view that we're in a war against the terrorists. I know that. And therefore there's a sense that 9/11 might have been an isolated incident. I just don't agree."
So while Bush denied making a connection between Hussein and 9/11, then later alluded to that very thing, Cameron only heard what would help the Administration and continued to report erroneously that Hussein had ties to 9/11.
