Test Your Astuteness on Current Events!

by Tom Eddlem

Knowledge quiz on war against Iraq

Directions: Guess which of the following answers are true.

1. What role did Iraq play in the 9/11 attack on New York’s Twin Towers?

1. No role whatsoever.
2. Nothing, despite vague and deliberately misleading insinuations by Bush Administration officials.
3. The terrorism was conceived and carried out by Saudis and Afghans, and not Iraqis.
4. No Iraqis were involved in any way.

2. How many times was Iraq mentioned in the federal indictment of 9/11 mastermind Zacharias Moussoui?

1. Not once.
2. Iraq was just about the only Islamic nation not named in the federal indictment.
3. Zip.
4. Zilch.

3. How many weapons of mass destruction has Saddam Hussein distributed to terrorist cells or other governments in his more than 20-year reign?

1. None.
2. Zero.
3. Not a one.
4. A whole number between –1 and +1.

4. Other than an alleged personal attack on George Bush the first after the 1991 Gulf War, how many acts of terrorism has Hussein masterminded or financed against the United States in his 20-plus year reign?

1. None.
2. Zero.
3. Not a one.
4. A whole number between –1 and +1.

5. How many Iraqi acts of terrorism will America suffer after we invade Iraq and our army creates another 300,000 Iraqi widows and orphans (by killing 100,000 Iraqi army privates)?

1. Oodles of terrorist acts.
2. As long as these surviving relatives live, they’ll be fomenting terrorism against America.
3. A lot, because those rag-heads are inhuman animals who – shockingly enough – actually take it personally when their sons, fathers, and daughters are killed by foreigners.
4. The longer American forces stay in Iraq and try in vain to set up a free government there, the more terrorism we’ll face.

6. Who is responsible for all of the terrorist acts against America over the last decade?

1. Not Iraq or any of its citizens
2. Just about every Islamic nation except Iraq.
3. Primarily citizens of our "allies" Saudi Arabia and Egypt, along with a few Afghans, Libyans, Sudanese and Yemenis.

7. The Iraqi "financing of international terrorism" touted by the Bush Administration consists entirely of:

1. Saddam Hussein’s funding of anti-Israeli suicide bombers, though at a funding level far below that financed by our "allies" Saudi Arabia and Egypt (and other Muslim nations).
2. Financing that has nothing to do with American national security or attacks against the United States.
3. Low-level financing of suicide bombers against Israel, designed more to gain credibility with Iraqi Muslim clergy than any sympathy Hussein has with radical Islamic causes.

8. The most compelling proven Iraqi ties to Al-Qaeda consist of:

1. A Bush administration fraud about a meeting between a top Al-Qaeda operative and an Iraqi loan officer in Madrid.
2. The fact that the multi-billion dollar terrorist group Al-Qaeda has ties to just about everyone in the Middle East, and therefore by sheer numbers must have some distant connection to Iraq.
3. The Bush Administration’s undying faith in that whole "seven degrees of separation" thing.
4. There aren’t any serious ties, which explains why the American public hasn’t been informed of any.

9. Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein:

1. Hate each other because one is a radical Islamic militant and the other is an atheist.
2. Are traditional and long-standing enemies.
3. Would kill each other if they got the chance.
4. Could only be brought together by American aggression in the Middle East.

February 25, 2003

Tom Eddlem [send him mail] is a newspaper editor in Mass.

Copyright © 2003 LewRockwell.com