Now they're lying about the lies

President Bush on Thursday disputed the Sept. 11 commission's finding that there was no "collaborative relationship" between Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaeda terrorist network responsible for the attacks.
"There was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda," Bush insisted following a meeting with his Cabinet at the White House.

"This administration never said that the 9-11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al-Qaeda," he said.

[snip]

However, Bush and Cheney also have sought to tie Iraq specifically to the 9/11 attacks. In a letter to Congress on March 19, 2003 — the day the war in Iraq began — Bush said that the war was permitted under legislation authorizing force against those who "planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001."

Cheney said on NBC's Meet the Press in September 2003 that "I think it's not surprising that people make that connection" between Saddam and Sept. 11.

"In the middle of the marble palace that serves as C.P.A. headquarters (and that will serve, at least temporarily, as part of the U.S. Embassy, beginning next month), there is a painting of the World Trade Center towers..."

What is especially galling is that Cheney has never stopped pointing out the so-called April 2001 meeting between ring-leader Atta and a senior Iraqi intelligence in Prague. But, according to the Commission's finding, there was video of Atta at a cash machine in Florida the day the meeting was supposed to have taken place.

Now, the Commission I'm sure did not review a billion hours of video to find that clip. The FBI or some other intelligence body must have had the video and shared it with the Committee. Now, if government intelligence agencts knew Atta was in Florida, not Prague, surely someone told Cheney that the Prague story he was peddling on any news outlet that would lap up his nonsense was, indeed, untrue.

Liar. Despicable, cynical liar. It will be interesting to see if the 50% of the country who believe Iraq was responsible for the 9-11 attacks, down from more than 65% earlier this year, will decline any further.