Editorial: Just what more do they know?

Thursday, June 17, 2004 | 8:50 a.m.

On Wednesday a report by the 9-11 commission's staff concluded that there was "no credible evidence" that Saddam Hussein had strong ties to al-Qaida. The finding by the bipartisan commission's staff flatly contradicts statements made by Vice President Dick Cheney, including one as recently as this week, that the former Iraqi dictator "had long-established ties with al-Qaida." The reason why the veracity of Cheney's assertion is important is that it was one of the justifications used to invade Iraq, that the military action there was part of the larger war on terrorism. But we've since found out that this rationale was just as hollow as another one of the White House's justifications for going to war with Iraq -- that the country had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.

Last fall President Bush was forced to acknowledge that there was no evidence that Saddam had anything to do with the 9-11 attacks, but since then he has turned around and falsely left the impression that there were ties after all. For instance, when Cheney on Monday renewed his contention that there was a link between al-Qaida and Saddam, Bush was right there on Tuesday defending his vice president. Although Bush didn't specifically mention al-Qaida, he did say that Saddam "had ties to terrorist organizations." It is bewildering that the administration, despite all the evidence to the contrary, hopes to mislead the public by spouting such fiction.

Bush had vigorously opposed the formation of a commission to investigate the terrorist attacks, but we're fortunate that Congress was moved by the pleas of the terrorist victims' families to create the 9-11 commission. The commission has uncovered information that the White House had previously withheld, such as the fact that the president, one month before the 9-11 attacks, had been warned in a CIA memo that there were indications "of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks." The 9-11 commission also made news on Tuesday when it divulged information about the scope of al-Qaida's planning for terrorist attacks in the United States.

The 9-11 commission revealed that the terrorist hijackings more than two years ago actually were just a part of a larger plan, which at one time considered hijacking 10 planes in order to attack targets on the West Coast in addition to those in Washington and in New York. Nuclear power plants were considered as targets, too. The American people deserve to know exactly what kinds of terrorist attacks al-Qaida had in mind, which is why it's disturbing that this information didn't come out sooner and directly from the White House instead of from the 9-11 commission. Then again this is an administration that disdains openness and values secrecy above all else in running government. That is something that, sadly, won't change until George Bush and Dick Cheney are no longer in the White House.