One Month After 9/11, McCain Said Anthrax ‘May Have Come From Iraq,’ Warned Iraq Is ‘The Second Phase’

Links (18)

Anthrax Suspect's Suicide Recalls Ambiguities In Lead Up To Invasion Of Iraq
Published 8/1/2008 by The Huffington Post News Editors at The Huffington Post | Full News Feed
... On a related note, John McCain was among the first politicians to link the anthrax letters to Iraq, as a clip from the October 18, 2001 Late Show with David Letterman, where McCain appeared as a guest, reveals. ThinkProgress has the story. ...

The Anthrax Attacks: Another Case of Right Wing Terrorism?
Published 8/1/2008 by Blue Texan at Firedoglake
... To be sure, Ivins' profession and his religion aren't evidence, by themselves, that he was some Bircher. But taken together they don't exactly paint the picture of some dirty hippie either. And now that it's pretty clear that Saddam Hussein or some a-rab wasn't the culprit -- despite what John McSame was saying at the time, the fact that Democrats and the media were targeted should at least raise questions about a possible political motive. ...

Why does this feel like the Parallax View?
Published 8/1/2008 by Alex at Martini Revolution
... Add McMakingShitUp: Think Progress reminds us that McCain said at the time, on national televsion, that the anthrax came from Iraq: ...

More terrorism, of the bio-right-wing kind?
Published 8/1/2008 by Larisa Alexandrovna at At-Largely
... on historical information and public statements by government officials. I could be entirely wrong that this was not some lone psycho and it surely would not be the first time I was wrong. But I do think we have to look at all of the evidence before we pin all of this on a single, conviniently dead, American terrorist working for a government bio-weapons lab. Also see the following: Glen Greenwald over at Salon asking about the Iraq issue Thing Progress has footage of McCain trying to tie Anthrax to Iraq ...

Memo to Campaign Journalists
Published 8/1/2008 by Callimachus (noreply@blogger.com) at Done With Mirrors
... The same goes for political bloggers, who beclown themselves by shrieking that McCain was "fearmongering" back in October 2001 when he suggested Iraq was a suspect in the anthrax mailings. ...

Ivins, anthrax, and the bentonite that wasn’t
Published 8/3/2008 by Carpetbagger at The Carpetbagger Report
... For that matter, those who helped spread the lie should obviously be held accountable. In this instance, that has to include John McCain, who appeared on “Late Night with David Letterman” on Oct. 18, 2001, before ABC ran with its patently false stories linking the anthrax attacks to Iraq. ...

The Patsy
Published 8/4/2008 by Justin Raimondo at AntiWar.com
... for war: administration officials and their amen corner (including John McCain ) used this "talking point" to promote the invasion of Iraq. The Rosenberg thesis also ignores the text of the anthrax letters, in which the author(s) ...

John McCain: Key Player in Speading the False Anthrax Story About Iraq
Published 8/4/2008 by tremayne at Open Left - Front Page
... A month after 9/11, before 4 of 5 anthrax victims had died, McCain went on Letterman and said "some of this anthrax may - and I emphasize may - have come from Iraq": ...

John McCain, October 2001:  Hey, is that Saddam's anthrax?
Published 8/6/2008 by Plutonium Page at Daily Kos
... and disturbing - about the timeline is that it shows us the general "blame Iraq" trend.  Note the part in bold (my emphasis): October 14, 2001: Guardian first suggests tie between anthrax and Iraq October 15, 2001: Daschle letter opened; Bush presses FBI to look into Middle Eastern links to anthrax October 18, 2001: Nerve attack scare in White House situation room October 18, 2001: John McCain links anthrax attack to Iraq and Phase II of war on terror October 21, 2001: ...

Earth to Reporters
Published 8/6/2008 by noreply@blogger.com (A.L.) at The Anonymous Liberal
Why isn't every major news organization bombarding McCain with questions about this? I realize that late 2001 was a time period that most journalists would rather forget, but come on; this is potentially a very big deal. Within days of the first anthrax attacks, McCain goes on television and claims that Iraq may be responsible for the attacks and states that Iraq will be the "second phase" of our response to 9/11. This screams out for follow up questions. What information, if any, did McCain have at the time linking the anthrax attacks to Iraq? Who gave him ...

McCain in Jan. 2002: ?Next up, Baghdad!?
Published 8/17/2008 at The Hollywood Liberal
... ” for any misleading remarks he made about the threat. Weeks after 9/11, McCain told Larry King that he would have named Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell to a McCain cabinet. “ ...

McCain in Jan. 2002: ?Next up, Baghdad!?
Published 8/17/2008 at The Hollywood Liberal
... ” for any misleading remarks he made about the threat. Weeks after 9/11, McCain told Larry King that he would have named Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell to a McCain cabinet. “ ...

Frank Rich: Palin and McCain’s Shotgun Marriage
Published 9/7/2008 by thePoliticalCarnival at The Latest on Air America
... ,” he wasn’t joking. [...] We’ve already seen where such visceral decision-making by McCain can lead. In October 2001, he speculated that Saddam Hussein might have been behind the anthrax attacks in America. That same month he out-Cheneyed Cheney in his ...

Mass Destruction or Mass Distraction?
Published 9/8/2008 by Alan Bock at AntiWar.com
... . Vice President Cheney and others pushed the story – implausible then and since completely discredited – that only a state actor hostile to the U.S. could have produced the anthrax in the envelopes mailed to various prominent people, and the most likely culprit was – drum roll, please – ...

Frank Rich: National Resource
Published 9/8/2008 by noreply@blogger.com (Demosthenes) at Shadow of the Hegemon
... We’ve already seen where such visceral decision-making by McCain can lead. In October 2001, he speculated that Saddam Hussein might have been behind the anthrax attacks in America. That same month he out-Cheneyed Cheney in his ...

A Pause In Withdrawal
Published 9/9/2008 by Cernig at Newshoggers.com
... And "Quick Draw" John McCain was right there boosting for the invasion, even just after 9/11. He doesn't just own the Surge, successful or not, he's a full partner in the entire debacle. Abu Aardvark points to ...

Arianna Huffington: The Palin Doctrine: Why the Neocons Are So Excited
Published 9/15/2008 by Arianna Huffington at Politics on HuffingtonPost.com
... a few days after the attack, McCain was already talking about "some other countries" that helped Bin Laden. Countries like Syria, Iran, and...Iraq. And a few weeks later, during an October 18, 2001 appearance on David Letterman, McCain answered a question about how the war in Afghanistan was going by announcing that the invasion of Iraq would be "the second phase" of the war on terror (how prescient of him to know that Saddam wouldn't give up those nonexistent WMD). What's more, he tried to buttress the case for attacking Iraq by claiming that the recent spate of anthrax ...

Stephen C. Rose: How Barack Obama Can Win The First Debate
Published 9/22/2008 by Stephen C. Rose at Politics on HuffingtonPost.com
... things going in Afghanistan now? MCCAIN: I think we're doing fine .... I think we'll do fine. The second phase -- if I could just make one, very quickly -- the second phase is Iraq. There is some indication, and I don't have the conclusions, but some of this anthrax may -- and I emphasize may -- have come from Iraq. LETTERMAN: Oh is that right? MCCAIN: If that should be the case, that's when some tough decisions are gonna have to be made. SOURCE THREE Once we ...