Bush in Constant State of Denial Regarding al-Qaeda and Iraq

Commentary ~ June 18, 2004: Even after the commission investigating 9/11 reported that it had found no evidence of any relationship between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, George Bush stands obstinately behind his justification for launching an invasion of Iraq.

Critics of his administration, from both sides of the aisles, are starting to wonder whether or not Bush is in a constant state of denial, or just caught up in a web of lies.

The New York Times has even gone so far as to ask the president to apologize to the American people for misleading them.

The 9/11 commission’s lengthy chronology of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, said that although there was evidence of contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda in the 1990's, "they do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship."

The commission pointed out, however, that al-Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden, would have nothing to do with Hussein because of his staunch belief in a separation of church and state. While Iraq was fiercely secular and had Christians and women in the upper echelons of its government, al-Qaeda is fiercely religious and insists on a marriage of church and state – and no women in power. Unlike Saddam Hussein, bin Laden would never allow Christians to run important ministries.

Bush knows that the intelligent among the American population will probably see through his lies. A large percentage of the public, however, continues to blindly follow Bush and believes whatever he says without question. Opinion polls show that large numbers of Americans still believe Iraq and Hussein had a hand in planning and executing the 9/11 attacks. Critics of the administration say that Bush and his aides have fueled that public misperception by remarks such as those the president made today.

In an article on Thursday, Newsday remarked that with no weapons of mass destruction found, Iraqi resentment of the U.S. occupation increasing and violence unabated, the commission statement that Hussein and al-Qaida never developed a "collaborative relationship" represents a new blow to the administration's already strained credibility.

The Guardian newspaper said the administration's obstructive attitude to the fact-finding efforts of the commission, which it only set up reluctantly, under pressure from the families of September 11 victims, is hardly surprising. "Mr Bush has a vested interest in keeping the American public confused," proclaimed the editorial

People who blindly support this president without questioning his motives and the powers who are pulling his strings are as guilty as he is. As the blood in Iraq runs deeper than the oil it was meant to protect, those Americans who blindly stand behind Bush simply because he happens to wear the jersey of their team should stop and ask themselves how complacent they are in his crimes against humanity.

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