In an interview with ultra-conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, Vice President Cheney claimed that Musab al-Zarqawi was the leader of al-Qaeda operations in Iraq before the March 2003 invasion.

“[A]fter we went into Afghanistan and shut him down there, he went to Baghdad, took up residence there before we ever launched into Iraq; organized the al-Qaeda operations inside Iraq before we even arrived on the scene, and then, of course, led the charge for Iraq until we killed him last June. He’s the guy who arranged the bombing of the Samarra Mosque that precipitated the sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni. This is al-Qaeda operating in Iraq,” Cheney said. “And as I say, they were present before we invaded Iraq.”

Intelligence sources unanimously agree that this information is totally false, and that Zarqawi was not even an al-Qaeda member until after the war. Cheney’s statements occurred after yet another report was released to confirm that neither Saddam Hussein nor his government had any ties to al-Qaeda. The report also criticizes the vice president’s tendency to ignore reliable intelligence in favor of fabrications from a rogue Defense Department which suit his agenda. What’s sad is that people still believe this lie, and what’s worse is that those who know it’s false believe the Vice President is simply misinformed.

Indeed, the only connection which ever existed between Saddam and al-Qaeda was their once common ally, the United States. Isn’t the perpetuation of these pre-war forgeries and falsehoods an impeachable offense? Someone ought to wake the Democrats from their slumber and let them know what’s going on.

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