The President Links Iraq to 9/11!

You can look at that title and say, of course he did! But actually there's been a tremendous effort on the part of the administration to make you think they said NOTHING OF THE KIND! HOW DARE YOU! And as a matter of fact, I just spent the better part of an hour trying to find the money quote, the moment in a speech where Bush DID say that Saddam Hussein or Iraq backed the 9/11 attacks.

In all those speeches, he never says it.

He says that terrorists attacked the United States, and we have to go into Iraq to fight terrorists, but he never quite links 'em up. You know how a movie is actually a series of still pictures that relies on your persistence of vision to create the illusion of movement? Same thing, only verbally.

Anyway, I had despaired of never being able to find the smoking gun when miraculously, I came across this. It's from the White House website!

Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate
March 18, 2003
Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)
Consistent with section 3(b) of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243), and based on information available to me, including that in the enclosed document, I determine that:
(1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic and other peaceful means alone will neither (A) adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq nor (B) likely lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and
(2) acting pursuant to the Constitution and Public Law 107-243 is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.
Sincerely,
GEORGE W. BUSH

The boldface is mine. I'm emboldening the text to point out that the stated reason we went to war with Iraq was because they aided the 9/11 attacks.

Whew! That guy's hard to pin down!

I read on the same right-wing site (Biga's Rants, see link on the right) that no one is claiming Al-Qaeda had anything to do with 9/11. I'm tired... anyone want to throw a few Cheney quotes my way?