Molly Ivins: How we got here: Our terrifying 'War on Terror'

Are you confused yet? Two weeks ago, President Bush said, "There's no question that Saddam Hussein had Al Qaeda ties." In September 2002, he said, "You can't distinguish between Al Qaeda and Saddam." But Bush also said two weeks ago, "We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the Sept. 11."

That helpful clarification came after Vice President Dick Cheney was asked on "Meet the Press" why he thought 70 percent of Americans believe Saddam was behind Sept. 11. "It's not surprising that people make that connection," said the veep. Back in 2001, Cheney had said it was "pretty well confirmed" that Iraq and the Sept. 11 hijackers had coordinated. But most recently he said, "I don't know" if Saddam was connected to Sept. 11.

On the thoroughly discredited report that the lead hijacker Mohammad Atta met with an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001, Cheney said, "We've never been able to develop any more of that yet either in terms of confirming it or denying it." In fact, the report has been disavowed by Czech intelligence, and American intelligence found that Atta was on the East Coast of the United States at the time of the alleged meeting.

Now, still trying to follow the bouncing ball on Saddam and Al Qaeda, we find the Los Angeles Times reporting in November 2002, "Allies Find No Links Between Iraq, Al Qaeda." Spain, which supported the United States in the war and has been active in prosecuting Al Qaeda, reported "no link to Al Qaeda." A high-ranking German intelligence official said talk of an Iraq-Al Qaeda connection is "nonsense" and "not even the American intelligence community believes that anymore."

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http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=15738

I wish SHE would run for prez!