An Examination of BushCo's Most Recent Talking Point

I've returned early from my blogging break to address the latest BushCo talking point, namely, that "[n]obody has ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the 9/11 attacks." When Bush first said this last week during a press conference, I wasn't sure if this was going to turn into a GOP talking point. I mean, it seemed like kind of a stupid thing to say, so I thought perhaps that it would only be a one-time statement from our Idiot President. But Bush repeated the exact same comment in an interview with Brian Williams this week, so it is pretty clear that Bush and the GOP are up to something here.

Sure, it is true that I've never heard anyone associated with the Bush Regime outright say that Saddam ordered the 9-11 attacks, but Bush and company have oftentimes gone out of their way to link Saddam with 9-11. This is from a recent Toledo Blade editorial:

WHEN President Bush declared last week that "nobody has ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered" the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a large segment of the American public must have been very surprised.

They would be the die-hard supporters of the war in Iraq, the one-quarter to one-third of Americans who, according to opinion polls, believe to this day that Saddam was somehow involved in 9/11.

No one likes to think that their President is lying, but for Mr. Bush to casually reverse five years of rhetoric is like Bill Clinton claiming "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."

No, there is no DNA evidence that we know of to indict Mr. Bush for perjury. But the public record includes repeated statements by the President, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and other administration officials that linked responsibility for the 9/11 attacks to Iraq, both directly and indirectly.

The alleged connection was the administration's strongest selling point for the war, slaking the American people's thirst for revenge for the 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.

As Mr. Bush put it on Oct. 7, 2002, "We know that Iraq and the al-Qaeda terrorist network share a common enemy - the United States of America. We know that Iraq and al-Qaeda have had high-level contacts that go back a decade. … We've learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases."

Here he is again, in his 2003 State of the Union address: "And this Congress and the American people must recognize another threat. Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al-Qaeda." * * *

The editorial goes on to discuss how other members of the Bush Administration were constantly linking Saddam to al-Qaeda.

If Bush does decide to use his "nobody has ever suggested that Saddam Hussein ordered the 9/11 attacks" line, someone in the press corps should fire back with --

"Well, Mr. President, no one has accused you of saying anything of the sort, but by giving us such an answer, it's pretty clear that you and your Administration are still pushing some sort of Saddam/9-11 connection, right? And don't you think that's one of the reasons you are the most disliked president in a generation? Don't you think your unpopularity has a lot to do with your total lack of credibility on this particular issue?"

Wouldn't it be great to hear someone ask questions like that? I know -- Hell would freeze over before someone in our corrupt Corporate Media asked questions along those lines, but I am still allowed to dream, aren't I?

To be fair, however, the Corporate Media are now openly exposing Bush scare tactics for what they really are, namely, political ploys. Two years ago, the press would "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain" and would instead dutifully report the latest BushCo talking point regarding what we should all be afraid of.

But not anymore. I saw a segment on CNN just last week that had to do specifically with whether BushCo scare tactics will work this time around. That's a pretty major change in how these issues are being reported, and it does give me some hope.