Cheney says Usama bin Laden is innocent on 911

Cheney says Usama bin Laden, Mohammed Atta and Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the 9/11 terrorist attacks in USA.

For Immediate Release
March 29, 2006

Interview of the Vice President by Tony Snow
The Tony Snow Show
Via Telephone

Audio
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060329-2.a.ram

Q Welcome back. Joining me now the Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney. Mr. Vice President, thanks for joining us.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hello, Tony. It's good to talk to you.

Q I want to be clear because I've heard you say this, and I've heard the President say it, but I want you to say it for my listeners, which is that the White House has never argued that Saddam was directly involved in September 11th, correct?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: That's correct. We had one report early on from another intelligence service that suggested that the lead hijacker, Mohamed Atta, had met with Iraqi intelligence officials in Prague, Czechoslovakia. And that reporting waxed and waned where the degree of confidence in it, and so forth, has been pretty well knocked down now at this stage, that that meeting ever took place. So we've never made the case, or argued the case that somehow Osama bin Laden was directly involved in 9/11. That evidence has never been forthcoming.

Q The other thing -- one of the other striking things of the Democratic plan is that they would get bin Laden. Do you think they know how to do it?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I think one of the difficulties we've got is that a number of the prominent folks on the other side -- and I don't question their patriotism or their loyalty -- but I do think many of them what I call a pre-9/11 mind set. They've got a tendency to look at the terrorist attacks, for example, in terms of law enforcement and only law enforcement.

Q But you don't seriously think they've got a secret plan for getting bin Laden?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't.

Q Okay. A couple of things, I think a couple of minutes ago -- I want to make sure -- you said Osama bin Laden wasn't involved in 9/11 planning. You meant Saddam Hussein, correct? That Saddam Hussein was not involved in September 11th?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Correct. Yes, sir.

Q Okay.

THE PRESIDENT CHENEY: Thanks for straightening that out. I didn't realize I'd done that. (Laughter.)

Q Yes. Well, otherwise we'd have a whole lot more stories to deal with.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Oh, yes. All right. Well, I appreciate it.

Q Some radioactive stuff got across the border the other day. We were doing a test, and it turned out that somebody faked some paperwork. Are you confident that we are going to be able to put together security measures that make it impossible -- or make it at least unlikely that somebody is going to be able to bring into this country the stuff necessary to create either a dirty bomb or a nuclear bomb?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: What broke down was the people bringing it across had some phony documents that were not detected.

Q What do you make of proposals to put up a wall between the United States and Mexico? For it or against it?

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: Well, I'm not sure it's the best way to proceed. I think there are parts of the border down there where a fence or a wall of some kind makes sense, and they've done some around San Diego, for example, that have worked well. It depends. In an urban setting, lots of times, that's the only effective way to be able to control the border. There are other places -- out in the wide open spaces -- that border is hundreds and hundreds of miles long -- where you're better off using modern technology -- unmanned aerial vehicles, for example, with night vision capability that lets you patrol large areas and -- remotely and direct your assets and your resources more effectively. So really it depends on the circumstances what the right answer is.

Q All right, Mr. Vice President.

(Sound bite is played.)

Q Thanks for joining us.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: All right. Good to talk to you.

END 11:56 A.M. EST