Feith Referenced Fake Company As Evidence Of Pre-War Ties Between Iraq And Bin Laden
Feith Referenced Fake Company As Evidence Of Pre-War Ties Between Iraq And Bin Laden
Early last month, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) released a declassified version of a Pentagon Inspector General report that found that in Sept. 2002, Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith gave a briefing entitled “Assessing the Relationship Between Iraq and al-Qaida” to Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff.
In this “alternative” intelligence assessment, Feith asserted that Osama Bin Laden’s al-Hijra Company had business “contacts” with a Dutch company, Vlemmo N.V. and that Vlemmo was a “front for Iraqi military procurement“:
Dick Cheney “publicly praised” the Feith assessment as “the best source of information on the topic.”
Yesterday, however, the Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen explained that Feith had apparently invented the company, saying “Vlemmo is unknown to the Netherlands“:
The company has never been registered with the Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands and is also not known to the tax service. That the company may have served as a front for illegal arms trade with Iraq is equally unknown to me.
The Inspector General report concluded that Feith inappropriately “developed, produced and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al-Qaeda relationship,’” which included “conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the Intelligence Community.”
Juan Cole has more.
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What?!?!!? Lies?!?!?!
say it isn’t so Feith!!!
May 24th, 2007 at 5:20 pmMaybe he meant Holland, Michigan, the home town of Eric Prince, founder and head of Blackwater USA, the worlds largest private army,
May 24th, 2007 at 5:23 pmand Halliburton’s personal goon squad.
He lied.
They died.
May 24th, 2007 at 5:24 pmpropaganda? NEVER!!! Doug is an honest, God-loving man. He loves america and liberty and…..stuff. you know …stuff. like power and money and power and power and killing and war, and stuff.
All these people are the same….habitual liars. But should we be surprised?
Some “interesting” reading on the lying nature of politicians:
“Promises, Promises”
May 24th, 2007 at 5:25 pmhttp://www.populistamerica.com/promises__promises
So, what’s new?
May 24th, 2007 at 5:27 pmNice job vetting that “best source” intelligence. Seems the White House doesn’t even know how to use the Dutch Yellow Pages. And we went to war based on these sorts of reports??
May 24th, 2007 at 5:30 pmDougy Feith is one o’ them AIPAC fellers.
He and Richard Pearle were involved in the Franklin scandal.
Franklin worked for one of them.
Selling secrets to Israel is treason.
Dougy Feith deserves to swing from the end of a rope.
May 24th, 2007 at 5:31 pmWhy do these people continue to get away with this crap? I’m now watching the Iraq Blank Check debate on C-span. Nothing has changed since November. It’s just as depressing as it’s been for the past 6 years. We’re screwed.
May 24th, 2007 at 5:33 pmWhy do these PNAC Neocon nancy boys still have any credibility?
They lied their asses off to get us into Iraq.
If we still had the rule of law in this country, Dougie Feith would have gone to jail years ago for spying and lying.
May 24th, 2007 at 5:35 pmthat the netherlands has no knowledge of the company is not proof that feith “invented” the company. and this, strangely enough, is proof that thinkprogress.org has predictable political leanings……
May 24th, 2007 at 5:35 pmVlemno NV is really the front company for a bunch of coffee shops in Amsterdam where we all go to get baked after a hard day ripping off 13 pallets of cash from Iraq.
We always put a pound in a diplomatic bag for the Oval Office.
May 24th, 2007 at 5:37 pmthey all belong in jail
May 24th, 2007 at 5:38 pmDougy Feith sure has a purty mouth.
May 24th, 2007 at 5:39 pmDual citizenship
May 24th, 2007 at 5:39 pmthinkprogress.org has predictable political leanings . . . gee, ya think? I wonder if RedState has any such leanings? or Instapundit? or TownHall? Dumba$$.
May 24th, 2007 at 5:41 pmAnybody who is Israel First is America Second.
Dougy Feith is a traitor. Franklin worked directly for him.
May 24th, 2007 at 5:41 pmJack Abramoff invented a Dutch company as well to funnel Russian money to Tom DeLay.
Apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.
http://www.vn.nl/web/show/id=184374/contentid=981
May 24th, 2007 at 5:43 pmXionist
May 24th, 2007 at 5:45 pmThis really makes me angry. They invented phony info to push this nightmare of a war. How Bin Laden must be enjoying the afterglow of our mistake from a safe perch in Afganistan/Pakistan. Will Feith be tried for treason? And Bush?
May 24th, 2007 at 5:46 pmThere was a Belgian company named Vlemmo that went bankrupt in March 2004:
http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/mopdf/2004/03/29_1.pdf
Page 125 of the pdf.
May 24th, 2007 at 5:47 pmthat the netherlands has no knowledge of the company is not proof that feith “invented†the company. and this, strangely enough, is proof that thinkprogress.org has predictable political leanings……
Comment by bill
What a tool! So who has most to gain or lose by lying. lets see, Doug feith or some bureaucrat in Holland? Gee I don’t know. Maybe the major architect in this debacle ‘dear leader’ has unleashed upon the world. Gee ya think? Go away troll – or come up with more clever ways of worshiping your boy-king.
May 24th, 2007 at 5:48 pmWow I’ll be firing this story off to my Dutch buddies.
May 24th, 2007 at 5:50 pmFor those of us genuinely concerned about terrorism this is pretty disturbing.
Never had faith in Feith (the word stupidest seems to have been applied in the past). No need to go into this, it’s in the past.
May 24th, 2007 at 5:50 pmDougy Feith was probably involved in the forged yellowcake documents too.
This is the guy who set up his own phony intel to compete with the real intel being produced by the CIA, NSA et al.
Dougy Feith is as crooked and traitorous as they come. It would be a real shame if he succumbed to acute traumatic lead poisoning.
May 24th, 2007 at 5:52 pmAny troll who would defend the traitor Feith is a traitor himself.
That means you, bill. You’re a goddamn traitor.
May 24th, 2007 at 5:53 pmA drive for global domination has put us in greater danger
Moral authority, which is our greatest source of strength, has been recklessly put at risk by this wilful president
by – Al Gore – - – please check the Lovely comments
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2086737,00.html
May 24th, 2007 at 5:55 pmIrrespective of whether Saddam was involved in 9/11 -he wasn’t- the mess that Feith has helped create in Iraq is worse than ever. Instead of defending the same old stuff, maybe he could try to explain how America and Iraq can come out of this disaster.
May 24th, 2007 at 6:08 pmYou know it doesn’t bother me that there are pro-Israeli members of our government. I’m not bothered that there are hardcore pro-Israeli/pro-Zionist members of our government, either. Frankly I believe Israel is here to stay and that rational people should be persuading Palestinians and Muslim groups to rethink their strategies for dealing with the world. But it really pisses me off when they lie and propagandize. This is very much against the law.
I’ll never forget when Feinstein asked Gonzales if he felt Bush were entitled to break the law and propagandize to Americans.
May 24th, 2007 at 6:13 pmIf anyone thinks that the Bush Admin vetted anything that the intelligence community came up with then they are really stupid. If whatever was submitted to them fit with their agenda, it was immediately accepted and if something was submitted to them that didn’t fit with their agenda, it was immediately rejected. There was NO vetting process with these guys. They let it be known that they wanted intelligence proving that Saddam had a relationship to Al Querida and they didn’t care if the intelligence was a pack of lies, a misrepresentation, or a prediction. As long as it fit their agenda, to them it was the truth.
I weep for what we have become in this country.
May 24th, 2007 at 6:15 pmbill: “that the netherlands has no knowledge of the company is not proof that feith “invented†the company. and this, strangely enough, is proof that thinkprogress.org has predictable political leanings……”
OK, that’s just plain nuts. If there is no record of such company, of course it was invented. And, since Feith wrote the report, I’m guessing he’s the one who invented it, unless Bill can think of anyone else. I know, Clinton invented the company!
May 24th, 2007 at 6:20 pmJust to remind everyone, people were executed after the Nuremberg trials for “starting illegal wars of aggression.”
May 24th, 2007 at 6:21 pmI think Feith misspoke he meant to say that the company was Vandelay Industries.
May 24th, 2007 at 6:25 pmnot a single person has disputed my claim that it is NOT proof that feith invented the company since the netherlands has no knowledge of said company…..
p.s. i’m a jewish, herb-growing, hot spring-dipping, hippie living in humboldt……i.e. no fan of bush
May 24th, 2007 at 6:25 pmDidn’t this guy know people can look these things up? It’s easy fact-check.
May 24th, 2007 at 6:27 pm“The company has never been registered with the Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands and is also not known to the tax service. That the company may have served as a front for illegal arms trade with Iraq is equally unknown to me”
If the co. was only a cover for alkaida, they would not necessarily register with the CoC in the N.lands.
May 24th, 2007 at 6:27 pmnot a single person has disputed my claim that it is NOT proof that feith invented the company since the netherlands has no knowledge of said company…..
Comment by bill — May 24, 2007 @ 6:25 pm
That’s because there is nothing to dispute. You are right. By the way, I had not read your post when I wrote my last comment.
May 24th, 2007 at 6:29 pm…and Bushy bought it, y’all.
May 24th, 2007 at 6:29 pmBill… Feith may Not have invented the company….but he was lethally incompetent in checking out his information.
May 24th, 2007 at 6:31 pmbill, I’ve searched the above article and nowhere does it claim Feith invented the company, so your little strawman is irrelevant.
It does say this: “The Inspector General report concluded that Feith inappropriately “developed, produced and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al-Qaeda relationship,’†which included “conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the Intelligence Community.â€
Let me translate that for you: Feith cooked up phony intelligence to push for an invasion of Iraq. Stop trying to obfuscate or deny that fact. It’s pathetic the length you Bush cultists will go to avoid reality.
May 24th, 2007 at 6:33 pmIsn’t this the guy oft referred to as “the stupidest guy on the planet.” Or was that another chucklehead.
Prof GEC
May 24th, 2007 at 6:34 pmproof that thinkprogress.org has predictable political leanings……
Comment by bill
The fact that it’s called “Think PROGRESS” wasn’t a clue for you?
May 24th, 2007 at 6:37 pmWow I’ll be firing this story off to my Dutch buddies.
For those of us genuinely concerned about terrorism this is pretty disturbing.
Comment by LandSurveyor
Are you implying that the rest of us aren’t concerned about terrorism?
May 24th, 2007 at 6:41 pmJust to remind everyone, people were executed after the Nuremberg trials for “starting illegal wars of aggression.â€
Comment by Bluedog49
I think Bush and Cheney need to be reminded of this, in court preferably.
May 24th, 2007 at 6:45 pmIf I had kids, I would send them to Georgetown to be tutored by this fine, upstanding US citizen. (snark off)
May 24th, 2007 at 6:46 pmI think Feith misspoke he meant to say that the company was Vandelay Industries.
Comment by rege
I use to sell latex for them!
May 24th, 2007 at 6:46 pmhere is the thinkprogress.org headline:
“Feith Referenced Fake Company As Evidence Of Pre-War Ties Between Iraq And Bin Laden”
note: it says “referenced” (or pointed to the existence of) a “fake company”. how is this not an ‘invention’ or ‘creation’ of something that doesn’t exist?
i am right. that the netherlands has no knowledge of a particular company is not proof that feith necessarily referenced a fake company.
and this is, in fact, proof of thing progress’s political leanings. and, just for the record, any intelligent organization would never, ever make its political leanings obvious.
May 24th, 2007 at 6:54 pmnote: it says “referenced†(or pointed to the existence of) a “fake companyâ€. how is this not an ‘invention’ or ‘creation’ of something that doesn’t exist?
i am right. that the netherlands has no knowledge of a particular company is not proof that feith necessarily referenced a fake company.
and this is, in fact, proof of thing progress’s political leanings. and, just for the record, any intelligent organization would never, ever make its political leanings obvious.
Comment by bill
Is English not your first language?
You just “referenced” a headline. Does that mean that you wrote it?
As to the last paragraph, you’re suggesting that no political organization would ever makes its political leanings obvious?
May 24th, 2007 at 7:01 pmnot a single person has disputed my claim that it is NOT proof that feith invented the company since the netherlands has no knowledge of said company…..
p.s. i’m a jewish, herb-growing, hot spring-dipping, hippie living in humboldt……i.e. no fan of bush
Comment by bill
Your claim is YOUR OPINION. You are entitled to your opinion. We don’t have to like it, agree with it, respond to it, etc…No problem. I am guessing you don’t know the background of Douglas Feith. Please do some research about him (no snark) and then lets dicuss what you think he may or may not have done. And as I had asked you, who do you think has the most to lose/gain by making this claim? It’s proably Feith – trying to cover his tracks. Anyway I feel better about you as you described yourself (herb growing – shhh!) so that helps. Humbolt county, hmmm. Nice country for LOTS of things.
May 24th, 2007 at 7:06 pmBill…A company is either Fake or Not Fake. This depends on the Facts of the case.
May 24th, 2007 at 7:08 pmFeith may NOT have know that it was Fake, when he referenced it. For all I know, he may have actually believed it was a real company. But if it was a Fake company, and appearantly it is Fake….then Feith is guilty of NOT doing his homework. And his having “referenced a fake company” would in fact be TRUE.
It bothers me that they propagandize to us. I’ll never forget when Diane Feinstein asked Gonzales if he felt Bush were allowed to break the law and propagandize to Americans.
May 24th, 2007 at 7:09 pmShane I have a friend who is Dutch. Jeesh. Take a walk, bro-
May 24th, 2007 at 7:10 pm“Are you implying that the rest of us aren’t concerned about terrorism?”
Comment by shane
Let’s see: Progressives have clamored for enemy combatants release, protested intelligence to track international phone calls between terror targets and their collaborators, defended anti-American/pro-enemy Professors Sami AlAran and Ward Churchill,…..
Hmmm….Am I implying – YES!!
May 24th, 2007 at 7:16 pmBadger – Your argument is good about Feith – but what if he gathered and investigated ALL the avialable info at the time? Again, YOUR argument is why I do not castigate Bill Clinton or George Bush for the WMD assertion. Unlike many here, I think inspecting 125 of over 1000 sites is NOT conclusive. I do think Progs make excellent rear view mirror drivers!!
May 24th, 2007 at 7:20 pm“Feith is the dumbest mother f*cker on the face of the planet”
May 24th, 2007 at 7:26 pm-Tommy Franks
but what if he gathered and investigated ALL the avialable info at the time?
Comment by valiant venus
Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen explained ….“Vlemmo is unknown to the Netherlands“:
So…maybe Feith could have put in a call to the Dutch Foreign Minister.
And Scott Ritter was CONVINCED that There were NO WMD’s in Iraq, and said so on the Public Airwaves Prior to America’s Invasion.
May 24th, 2007 at 7:41 pmBesides…what about all the weapons of slightly less than Mass destruction, that are now in truckbombs. Our troops drove past warehouses full of them, following Bush’s Incompetent war plan. Maybe we should have secured them before they were looted.
Badger – Your argument is good about Feith – but what if he gathered and investigated ALL the avialable info at the time? Again, YOUR argument is why I do not castigate Bill Clinton or George Bush for the WMD assertion. Unlike many here, I think inspecting 125 of over 1000 sites is NOT conclusive. I do think Progs make excellent rear view mirror drivers!!
Comment by valiant venus
While conservative trolls, on the other hand, like to work backwards in their defense of fellow neocons. “Since Feith is a neocon, we should assume that his poor information was the result of human fallibility rather than outright incompetence or dishonesty. Had he been a “Prog”, however, we would start with the opposite assumption.”
And, being a conservative troll, the very fact that Feith offered as verified intelligence a conduit that did not exist bothers you not at all. No, indeed, it is merely another opportunity to mock “Progs”, in spite of the fact that “Progs” have been right about Iraq and the neocons (trolls and all) have been completely wrong.
Go trail your WMD red herring elsewhere.
May 24th, 2007 at 7:47 pmOh, you mean it didnt exist?
And they used it to justify the destruction of a country? And there are no WMDs? No Al-Qaeda-Saddam ties?
Pathetic murderers.
May 24th, 2007 at 7:58 pmbill: “and, just for the record, any intelligent organization would never, ever make its political leanings obvious.”
Rupert Murdoch to a British interviewer earlier this year: “I started fox to push the republican agenda.”
May 24th, 2007 at 7:58 pmThere’s a screen-shot of the document in which Feith references a fake company. Bill says Feith didn’t reference a fake company….
This is what’s left in the 28% — crazy people and stoned libertarians.
May 24th, 2007 at 8:01 pmJuan C. I appreciate that these stories keep coming. But America accepted a flimsy basis for going to Iraq. It’s good to document this stuff for future and posterity but America bought what they were selling. And we’re stuck here wishing we had negotiated a better deal.
At any moment the opposition could have called BS on all this. That’s why I mentioned the Feinstein piece durong Gonzo confirm hearings-
Remember Russert saying it wasn’t his job to investigate or oppose Bush since there wasn’t an opposition party? That statement used to make me angry. But it’s the damned ugly truth.
May 24th, 2007 at 8:18 pm#54 – Scott Ritter was convinced there were no WMD’s. Colin Powell testified HE WAS convinced – I think Powell had more standing than Ritter…..so your point is moot…..
May 24th, 2007 at 8:26 pmRemember Tommy Frank’s assessment of Feith. Does that sound like a subhuman who could make this up? I don’t think so.
May 24th, 2007 at 8:31 pmThis was Cheney’s blueprint.
I think Powell had more standing than Ritter…
Comment by valiant venus
True, until he opened his mouth in front of the security council. Ritter was Right…Powell was Wrong. And read some of the stuff written by Wilkerson…Powell’s number two at the State Dept. Powell is too much of a good soldier to say he was mislead…but that’s what happened.
May 24th, 2007 at 8:38 pmAhh more wonderful work from the Office of Feith-Based Initiatives
May 24th, 2007 at 9:24 pm#54 – Scott Ritter was convinced there were no WMD’s. Colin Powell testified HE WAS convinced – I think Powell had more standing than Ritter…..so your point is moot….. Comment by valiant venus — May 24, 2007 @ 8:26 pm
I just knew you’d be here defending your favorite Israeli NeoCons! You do realize that Israelis look at you NeoCons with just as much distrust and disdain as we *Americans* do – right – st*pid c*nt?
May 24th, 2007 at 10:07 pmLet’s see: Progressives have clamored for enemy combatants release, protested intelligence to track international phone calls between terror targets and their collaborators, defended anti-American/pro-enemy Professors Sami AlAran and Ward Churchill,….. Hmmm….Am I implying – YES!! Comment by valiant venus — May 24, 2007 @ 7:16 pm
You know in a *democracy*, you either *charge* someone with a crime, or you release them.
When an Anti-American slave of Israeli right wing extremist opinions like you comes out and calls others Anti-American – all I have to say is PROJECT MUCH?
You’re such a st*pid c*nt.
Valiant Ben Laden, here defending the indefensible! You’re like the Tel Aviv version of Baghdad Bob, aren’t you c*nt? The difference is that Tel Aviv thinks you NeoCons are a bunch of sh*theads – and they are *RIGHT*!
May 24th, 2007 at 10:10 pmVVGFU, tranny doesn’t believe in the US system despite claiming to be a lawyer. It is kinda stupid…and ignorant of the US…even for a Brit.
May 24th, 2007 at 11:17 pmall these liars need to be killed.
May 25th, 2007 at 8:21 amOooooo, Feith tells Bush Admin that Saddam’s regime had ties to AQ (parroting Clinton Admin and msm claims from the 1990’s), and then 48hrs later the CIA puts out their “Iraqi Support for Terrorism 2002″ pamphlet that clarifies and expanded on Feith’s claims.
Big deal. Anything Feith said-true, false, exaggerated, understated is irrelevent as the defacto authority made everything clear 48hrs later.
Feith’s work is irrelevent.
Sure, some will say that the Admin used his comments to mislead Congress, but the then Democrat-controlled Senate had a dozen closed door meetings after Feith’s last presenation on Sept 16, and before the CIA put out their SECOND “Iraqi Support for Terrorism 2003″ report. Then the Sen and House intel committees each held another dozen closed door meetings with REAL intel leaders before the invasion started. If Congress was so misled, then why didn’t they ask real intelligence agency leaders in those dozens of meetings, and if they did, then why (as we see now in Tenet’s book) don’t people recognize that it was the intel that was weak, and not Feith’s misleading that was a problem? Could it be that those charged with overseeing and maintaining the intelligence community don’t want us to know that they screwed up? Nah, politicians would never point fingers to distract from their own fubars.
C’mon people. What’d Feith do…mislead people for 48hrs? Oooooooo
May 25th, 2007 at 10:52 am#68: You cannot even get the most simple facts straight. The senate and house was controlled by repug chimpy leg humpers (like you). Dems didn’t get control until Jan 07. You wrote:
“Sure, some will say that the Admin used his comments to mislead Congress, but the then Democrat-controlled Senate had a dozen closed door meetings after Feith’s last presenation on Sept 16, and before the CIA put out their SECOND “Iraqi Support for Terrorism 2003″ report. ”
The some you mention is at about 70% now. Where did you get all this BS? Inshannity? Limpballs?
Just to be fair I will admit the dems who got the classified briefings should have been raising holy hell, but were so afraid of being called unpatriotic or troop haters (I can only guess this). There is no good excuse. I hope their constituents will remember this when they come up for re-election and vote every one of them out. There is something seriously wrong with the discourse in this country when our leaders don’t speak up for what they know is right. Dissenting opinions should be welcome in a debate as serious as sending our young folks into battle. All rational people should agree with that.
May 25th, 2007 at 11:30 amthat the dutch have no record of a particular company is not proof that feith referenced a fake company. and this is indisputable.
May 25th, 2007 at 2:05 pmThat the Dutch have no record of a particular company could mean that a company did or didn’t exist ?
May 26th, 2007 at 3:54 pmAnd yet the existance( or not) of the company by Mr. Feith is evidenced by……?
The official version is always unbelieveable: “These lies just inserted themselves into the evidence for war”.
No one from the Bush administration is ever responsible for lying us into an illegal, costly, counter-productive war. These lies (Dutch company, yellowcake from Africa, aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons, mobile weapons labs, meeting in Prague, drones, ready to launch, etc.) always just passively insert themselves. Noone ever actually “LIED”.
28% of Americans are living in la-la land and the mainstream media won’t say it. The only thing that makes sense is that the Downing Street Memo was true. The US and Britain cannot even deny that the memo is true.
p.s.: Save The Children says one in eight Iraqi children now die before the age of five! In Afghanistan, one in four.
May 26th, 2007 at 7:05 pmDon’t worry, the nothing will to that cocksucker because he is a GODDAMN ISRAELI JEW!!
May 26th, 2007 at 8:46 pmThe Holocaust Industrial Complex will protect him!
Could be a British Virgin Islands company – they allow the deliberately misleading use of NV to suggest Dutch registration. Very common for shady activity. Now who owned a bvi company?
May 27th, 2007 at 11:14 amComment by Akmadinajod — May 26, 2007 @ 8:46 pm
I would like to say that I am in no way connected to the above anti-semetic comment.
May 27th, 2007 at 1:21 pm