A retracted statement and apology waiting to happenFollow

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A Republican congressman from North Carolina told CNN on Wednesday that the "evidence is clear" that Iraq was involved in the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001.

"Saddam Hussein and people like him were very much involved in 9/11," Rep. Robin Hayes said.

Told no investigation had ever found evidence to link Saddam and 9/11, Hayes responded, "I'm sorry, but you must have looked in the wrong places."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/06/29/hayes.911/index.html


I guess someone should have told him about this:

Thursday, 18 September, 2003,US

President George Bush has said there is no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 11 September attacks.

The comments - among his most explicit so far on the issue - come after a recent opinion poll found that nearly 70% of Americans believed the Iraqi leader was personally involved in the attacks.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3118262.stm



[rhetoricalquestion] When will the Pubbies stop making up facts and when will the dems stop being pissy ***** that call people *****? [/rhetoricalquestion]

Well. Hold on there. One Congressman does not equal the entire Republican party. So either this guy is really confused, his words were taken horribly out of context (but looking at the quotes, I can't see how that's possible), or he really does know something (or thinks he knows something) that the rest of us, the president, and the 9/11 commision don't.

I'm opting for option number 1 personally. Still though. That hardly represents all of Republicans. He's entitled to his own beliefs I suppose...

It is his politics, say it enough to convince the people in his area that it is true and he gets their support. Thats what most politicians do, play the people.

Saddam's a darkie, them folks who flew the plane were darkies. Theres a clear link there!

Note the date on that 70% figure. That's 3 years ago. The poll was taken *before* the Bush administration stated clearly that there was no known connection between 9/11 and Saddam. The perception is almost universally agreed upon as the result of wild speculation by the media alone, and it wasn't until the Bush administration started debunking that belief that the numbers went down.

I'm pretty sure that a poll taken today would find only a small percentage of people who believe that Iraq was involved in 9/11. That's why this guys statements seem so bizaare. It's totally contradictory to what *both sides* of the policial spectrum are saying. There's no way he can gain any sort of political ground making the statement. It really makes no sense that he would say it.

Gbaji--

Listen, socky. I promised I wouldn't spill your secret but if you keep up with ridiculous statements like this no one is going to take you seriously anymore.

Tone it down, will ya?

--DK