First Law of Politics: Never Admit a Lie

George Bush is deperately trying to debunk the findings of the Independent Commission investigating the September 11 attacks.

Washington: President George W Bush today disputed the September 11 commission's finding that there was no "collaborative relationship" between deposed Iraqi President 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.

Maybe his mate Chalabi told him this?

From the same article .....

Although bin Laden asked for help from Iraq in the mid-1990s, Saddam's government never responded, according to a report by the commission staff based on interviews with government intelligence and law enforcement officials.

"There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda also occurred after bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan, but they do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship," the report said. "Two senior Bin Laden associates have adamantly denied that any ties existed between al-Qaeda and Iraq."

And from a piece from Paul McGeough, summing up the consequences of this entire mess ....

Now we find that the unnecessary Iraq war has sucked resources away from the War on Terror. Bin Laden is at large but Saddam is in captivity; Iraq did not help al-Qaeda or bin Laden and it was invaded, while Pakistan, which did help al-Qaeda and did sell its nuclear know-how around the Axis of Evil, has just been elevated to the exclusive ranks of "major non-NATO ally" by George Bush.

We can only hope the voters of the US and Australia do the right thing before the end of the year.