Al-Qaeda's Opening Shot in Iraq War (?)

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The Associated Press article I read today in our local newspaper also stated that the group is linked to al-Qaeda.

Looks like DEBKAfile was ahead of the pack on this one.

[nicky g]

Or that they took the story from DEBKAfile? THey can state it all they want but they've yet to show any evidence. Furthermore, they haven't given any evidence to link Ansar to Bghdad, withot which their whole case falss apart.

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Would AP be likely take the article from them without having some sort of confirming facts available? (I don't know the answer to that question;-))

Anyway it's not a court of law, it's just a newspaper article. If news articles tried to prove every thing in their stories, they would be books. I just noted that UPI today referred to bin Laden as "allegedly" being linked to al Qaeda--I guess that's another way to handle matters;-)

My guess is that the group in question which committed the assassination is indeed linked to al Qaeda, as both DEBKA and AP stated. I don't believe that it has to be true, but I don't think it makes sense to assume it's untrue unless we have evidence to the contrary. My approach is to weight it somewhat and keep accumulating information.

[nicky g]

"Anyway it's not a court of law, it's just a newspaper article. If news articles tried to prove every thing in their stories, they would be books."

Of course. I don't really care what the newspapers print in the long run, but I think you need better proof than an unsubstantiated newpaper article to go to war. I'd also say a lot of what the press is being told comes from the government, who've been telling us a lot recently without backing any of it up. I don't really doubt that Ansar has at least links to al-Qaida. I don't see any evidence of a link to Baghdad though.