Right Wing Revionism Makes The Big Time

When no conclusive evidence of Saddam-Al Qaeda link was found following the Iraq War, some conservative pundits argued that Bush never actually suggested that such a link existed (this is absolute nonsense, on many occasions before the war began, Bush publicly stated that Saddam was in league with terrorists). Unfortunately, this claim that the President never accused of Iraq of having ties to Al Qaeda has made its way into the newspaper of record. In today’s (well, now technically yesterday’s) Times it was printed
that:

Mr. Bush has never accused Iraq under Saddam Hussein of a direct role in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But he has said many times that Mr. Hussein and his followers are of the same ilk as Al Qaeda terrorists. He asserted again today that what is left of Al Qaeda - ``wounded yet not destroyed'' - knows that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein ``is a defeat for them.''

This is not exactly the same thing as the wrongheaded notion put forwards by some conservatives (it is a bit closer to the truth), but it cuts George W. Bush more slack than he deserves.