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http://mediamatters.org/items/200603290011NY Post, Fox's Gibson touted new Iraqi documents, ignored doubts on significance, credibility
Summary: A New York Post editorial and Fox News host John Gibson both claimed that documents recovered from Iraq -- recently released by the Bush administration and summarized by ABC News -- prove that the administration correctly asserted in its buildup to the Iraq war that Saddam Hussein was working with Al Qaeda. In fact, as ABC pointed out, the documents that both the Post and Gibson cited are not definitive in any way and are of varying credibility.
A March 27 New York Post editorial and Fox News host John Gibson both claimed that documents recovered from Iraq -- recently released by the Bush administration and summarized by ABC News -- prove that the administration correctly asserted in its buildup to the Iraq war that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was working with Al Qaeda. In fact, as ABC pointed out, the documents that both the Post and Gibson cited are not definitive in any way and are of varying credibility. Furthermore, a U.S. intelligence official told The New York Times that the documents, which had been in their custody prior to their release, have not altered the current intelligence assessment that Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda had no operational relationship.
The Post claimed that "
ight at the top of the left's catalogue of George W. Bush's 'lies' about the War on Terror is the one about Saddam Hussein's ties to terrorism in general - and to al Qaeda in particular. ... No evidence exists, the critics say, to show serious ties between the deposed Iraqi dictator and Islamist terrorists." The Post then claimed that because of the new Saddam documents, it "ooks like the president's enemies will have to come up with another one":
ABC News reports that a newly translated Iraqi government document discloses that an official representative of Saddam met directly with Osama bin Laden in Sudan on Feb. 19, 1995 -- and that the al Qaeda leader had suggested "carrying out joint operations against foreign forces in Saudi Arabia."