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Cheney Visits Baghdad and Praises War Effort; Bomb Kills 40 in Karbala
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Cheney's argument that Saddam Hussein's Iraq was tied to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda came despite a Pentagon study last week that found "no smoking gun" to prove an "operational relationship." But the Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine that supports the war, published an article saying the report's executive summary oversimplified its findings, which it said bolster Cheney's case.
Cheney brought along Stephen Hayes, the article's author and a biographer of the vice president, who asked why the White House was not pressing its argument further. Cheney said he had long known that Hussein supported a range of terrorist groups and that the new report "pretty conclusively makes that case."
Noting that the report said there was no "operational" link between Iraq and al-Qaeda, he said it documented "extensive links with Egyptian Islamic Jihad," a group headed by bin Laden deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, that later merged into al-Qaeda.
"Now was that a link between Iraq and al-Qaeda?" he said. "Seems to me pretty clear that there was."
Democrats in Washington leapt on Cheney's comments, comparing them to his prewar assertion that U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators and his 2005 declaration that the insurgency was in its "last throes." Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) said Cheney should instead figure out how "to find Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda's senior leadership -- neither of whom are in Iraq."
Former congressman Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), co-chairman of the bipartisan commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and found "no operational relationship" between Iraq and al-Qaeda, said Cheney was parsing words to create a false impression.
"They just keep repeating it -- the vice president uses the word 'links,' " Hamilton said in an interview. "Nobody really denies that. The question is 'Was there an operational relationship?,' and there's no evidence of that."
The security gains Cheney hailed have prompted cautious optimism among Iraqis, according to the ABC poll. Fifty-five percent of those surveyed said their lives are "going well," compared with 39 percent last August. Thirty-seven percent said security over the past six months had remained the same, while 36 percent said it had improved and 26 percent said it had deteriorated. But the vast majority were still dissatisfied with access to electricity (88 percent), fuel (81 percent) and jobs (70 percent).
The Red Cross report likewise highlighted dire living conditions. Poor maintenance, insufficient fuel supplies, acts of sabotage and failure to conduct repairs threaten the electrical supply throughout Iraq, and many Iraqis rely on unsafe water sources, the report says.
The health-care system is in crisis because of shortages of supplies and hospital beds as well as a shrinking pool of Iraqi doctors, the report says. About 2,200 doctors and nurses have been killed and more than 250 kidnapped since 2003, it says, and 20,000 of the 34,000 doctors registered in Iraq in 1990 have left the country.
"The Iraqi health-care system is now in worse shape than ever," the report concludes. "Many lives have been lost because prompt and appropriate medical care is not available."
Although violence has subsided compared with a year ago, Iraq remains a dangerous place. Two U.S. soldiers were killed Monday when a bomb exploded on their vehicle north of Baghdad during a mission to clear a road of such explosives. The attack raised the number of U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq to at least 3,990.
Baker reported from Washington. Special correspondents Saad Sarhan in Najaf, Naseer Nouri in Baghdad and Mohanned Saif Aldin in Samarra and staff writer Josh White in Washington contributed to this report.
