Bush Admits Iraq Had ‘Nothing’ to Do With 9/11

At his press conference today, the president came refreshingly (although just a tad belatedly) clean about the fact that Iraq played no part whatsoever in the Sept. 11 attacks. Watch it.
A howler from Bush: “Nobody’s ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack.” OK, maybe not in those words, but how ‘bout in these?

Crooks and Liars:

Karl Rove and Dick Cheney are not happy campers today that’s for sure. He admits he was wrong about WMD’s in Iraq and now this.

QUESTION: A lot of the consequences you mentioned for pulling out seem like maybe they never would have been there if we hadn’t gone in. How do you square all of that?

BUSH: I square it because imagine a world in which you had Saddam Hussein, who had the capacity to make a weapon of mass destruction, who was paying suiciders to kill innocent life, who had relations with Zarqawi.

You know, I’ve heard this theory about, you know, everything was just fine until we arrived [in Iraq] and — you know, the stir-up-the-hornet’s-nest theory. It just doesn’t hold water, as far as I’m concerned.

The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East. They were …

QUESTION: What did Iraqi have to do with that?

BUSH: What did Iraq have to do with what?

QUESTION: The attacks upon the World Trade Center.

BUSH: Nothing. . . . .Except for it’s part of — and nobody’s ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a — Iraq — the lesson of September the 11th is: Take threats before they fully materialize…

Link

From ThinkProgress

Although Bush acknowledged that Iraq played no role in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, he reaffirmed his decision to invade Iraq because “the best way to defeat resentment is through hope, and the best way to do hope is through a form of government.” Got it?