Art was joined by Michael Shrimpton, a specialist in national security, intelligence and counter terrorism, for a discussion on 9/11 and the War in Iraq.
Shrimpton dismissed conspiracy theories that involve the United States in any way in the 9/11 attacks. "It is quite clear that neither President Bush nor Vice President Cheney had any prior warning whatsoever. They were clearly taken by surprise," he said. Shrimpton stated that the Bush administration was right to initially blame Iraq for the attacks.
According to Shrimpton, there is plenty of evidence to tie Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. The two had begun meeting with each other in 1989, he explained, and documents provided by the Iraqi National Congress link bin Laden to the Iraqi 'Mukhabarat' intelligence organization as far back as 1992. Shrimpton said the Mukhabarat was heavily involved in the planning and execution of 9/11.
Shrimpton also pointed out that Iraq had stolen a Boeing 767 simulator from Kuwait during the first Gulf War. The simulator was later sent to a terrorist training camp, where it was used to train the terrorist pilots who carried out the 9/11 plot against the US.
Shrimpton commented on the so-called lack of WMDs found in Iraq. He said British and US Intelligence were aware of WMDs being moved out of Iraq between September 2002 and March 2003. Shrimpton further revealed that France and Germany supported the Iraqi WMD program.
He also suggested that China, who holds a trillion dollars of US treasury bills, threatened to dump them on the market in order to keep the Bush administration from blaming bin Laden for 9/11.