The New York Times | 9/11 Panel Ask Cheney for Reports That Would Support Iraq-Qaeda Ties

"The leaders of the Sept. 11 commission called on Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday to turn over any intelligence reports that would support the White House's insistence that there was a close relationship between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda.
The commission's chairman, Thomas H. Kean, and its vice chairman, Lee H. Hamilton, said they wanted to see any additional information in the administration's possession after Mr. Cheney, in a television interview on Thursday, was asked whether he knew things about Iraq's links to terrorists that the commission did not know.

'Probably,' Mr. Cheney replied."

Not a very gung-ho answer, Bubba Cheney. Is "probably" the reason that we went to war? And, BTW, "probably" is a strong downsizing from what Cheney said just recently, according to this REUTERS article.

Cheney Won't Back Down on Saddam-Qaeda Links -Aides

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney, who took the lead in pushing the idea of long-standing links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, has no intention of backing down despite a finding to the contrary by the Sept. 11 commission, aides said on Wednesday.

Administration officials stood by Cheney, who critics accuse of using faulty intelligence about alleged weapons of mass destruction and Iraqi links to al Qaeda to push the nation to war.

A White House official said Cheney's assertion, which he repeated this week, that the ousted Iraqi leader had long-established ties to al Qaeda, were based on "facts."

"Hell no!" another administration official said when asked if Cheney would retract his statements after the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks found no evidence that Iraq aided al Qaeda attempts to strike the United States.


So there you have it in the Bubba administration: one day it's "hell, no" and the next day it's "probably". That's bubbalogic!

So why doesn't the Bubba Administration just admit their error? Because they can't!. Again from the NY Times:

Advisers to the White House said Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney would continue to be aggressive in countering the commission's conclusions — or in the White House's official view, the misinterpretation by the news media of the commission's conclusions — because failing to do so would undermine their credibility and their rationale for taking the country to war.