September 12, 2004

MAYBE DEMOCRATS ARE OUT OF THEIR LEAGUE:

Rumsfeld Mixes Up Hussein, Bin Laden in Speech (LA Times Wire Services, September 11, 2004, LA Times)

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld mixed up Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden with deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein twice in a speech Friday.

Among other things, Rumsfeld talked about the world just before the Sept. 11 attacks, whose third anniversary is today. In Afghanistan, he told the National Press Club, "the leader of the opposition Northern Alliance, Masoud, lay dead, his murder ordered by Saddam Hussein, by Osama bin Laden, Taliban's co-conspirator."

Ahmed Shah Masoud, who opposed the ruling Taliban, was killed by suspected Al Qaeda operatives — not Hussein — two days before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Later, Rumsfeld said, "Saddam Hussein, if he's alive, is spending a whale of a lot of time trying to not get caught. And we've not seen him on a video since 2001."

Hussein was captured by U.S. forces in Iraq; Bin Laden has not been found.

The moderator later asked Rumsfeld if he had meant Bin Laden, and the Defense secretary replied: "I did. I meant we haven't seen Osama bin Laden."


And so the master learns from the pupil.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 12, 2004 11:04 PM
Comments

I love the reference to Scott Paterno in the linked MSNBC article. I saw his father, Joe Paterno, enthusiasticly introducing and endorsing Bush at a CSPAN televised Pennsylvania campaign stop a few weeks ago. The large crowd went wild. Saw the same thing at a campaign stop in Pittsburg (Lynn Swann did the honors) and Michigan (ditto Bo Schembechler). The media often notes that Bush doesn't have a lot of Hollywood types campaigning for him. Given the choice, I think I'd take the Paterno-Swann-Schembechler crew standing by my side in those states.

Posted by: Fred Jacobsen (San Fran) at September 13, 2004 12:16 AM

Bin Laden??, Hussein?? What the heck. They all look and sound the same to me. Is there some nuance I'm missing?

Posted by: h-man at September 13, 2004 6:06 AM

It's all part of their subliminal campaign to convince the country that there is a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda.

Posted by: David Cohen at September 13, 2004 9:50 AM

>And so the master learns from the pupil.

"Obi-Wan. The circle is complete..."

Posted by: Ken(obi) at September 13, 2004 12:59 PM
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