The most aggressive pushers of this story have been neoconservative extremists Richard Perle, James Woolsey, Ken Adelman and Frank Gaffney, who either serve on the Defense Policy Board or are otherwise tangentially connected to the administration. (Gaffney has even tried to link Iraq to the 1995 terror bombing in Oklahoma City.) See this article ( http://slate.msn.com/id/2070410 ) for details on how this myth stayed alive long after intelligence pros definitely disproved it. Of course, now that the Atta link has petered out, another al Qaeda "connection" of comparable validity is being spread - this time by Powell and Bush.
5) Straw man:
"The risks of [doing nothing], the risks of [assuming the best from Saddam Hussein], it's just not a risk worth taking."
Comment: Notice that Bush doesn't name anyone who advocates "doing nothing." The whole idea behind DOING inspections and containment is that everyone knows we can't take Saddam at his word. Here, for instance, is former President Jimmy Carter's eminently sensible and non-violent "do-something" strategy to ensure the security of Iraq'sneighbors as well as the United States:
http://alternet.org/print.html?StoryID=15084
5) Straw man:
"The risks of [doing nothing], the risks of [assuming the best from Saddam Hussein], it's just not a risk worth taking."
Comment: Notice that Bush doesn't name anyone who advocates "doing nothing." The whole idea behind DOING inspections and containment is that everyone knows we can't take Saddam at his word. Here, for instance, is former President Jimmy Carter's eminently sensible and non-violent "do-something" strategy to ensure the security of Iraq'sneighbors as well as the United States:
http://alternet.org/print.html?StoryID=15084