War Is Still Sell

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States reported, "We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated." Will Bush administration officials and other Republican politicians now stop saying there's a connection? "Hell no!" replied one official, when asked whether Dick Cheney would retract his recent statement that Saddam Hussein had "long established ties with al Qaeda." George Bush maintained, "The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al Qaeda [is] because there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda." House GOP members are also sticking to their story. "The common link is that they hate America," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. According to Rep. Chris Shays, al Qaeda and Iraq are "like peas in a pod." Rep. Dana Rohrabacher did admit, in response to a question about the wisdom of hyping a highly conjectural Osama bin Laden - Saddam Hussein link, "Was it a well-thought out sales pitch? Probably not."