No Link

The heavies have weighed in on the Saddam - Al Qaeda link. Of course the first was the famous 9/11 panel denial of administration claims. Then came the CIA (on many occasions). This recent admission is the most definitive. Kerry pressed the issue during the first presidential debates. Now, feeling the question safe enough to cover (like Bush's Guard duty), the mainstream press is pressing. Donald Rumsfeld laid bare the most prized rationale for putting our servicemen and women into harm's way, killing tens of thousands of people, and destabilizing a nation. No Al Qaeda - Saddam link. Sorry, Bill O'Reilly. [Whoops! Update! Rumsfeld: "I was misunderstood!" We all are sometimes, Rummy. Especially when we know more than the CIA.] This particular reversal cannot as easily be written off as a 'mistake of insufficient intelligence' as in the case of, say, the WMD's. Whether or not the U.S. supplied them, we know that Hussein had chemical weapons at one point in the 1980's when he was killing Iranians for us. The U.N. had sanctioned the WMD claim with inspections and resolutions (that apparently worked). In regard to Al Qaeda, no one, save the administration, was claiming a link. With no more cards to play, perhaps the administration is betting on the power of rising gas prices and plain old greed to sustain the war and make the 'blood for oil' equation palatable. At this point, perhaps ignorance and fear are still running the game. See these PIPA Knowledge Reports out of the University of Maryland.