A Mere Technicality
This story keeps popping up over the last week, and for good reason. An interim staff report from the 9/11 Commission says there's no evidence that Saddam collaborated with Al Qaeda on attacks against the US, obviously including the 9/11 attacks. In the ensuing days we got headlines from the big players, for example the Times (LA and NY) and others, and columnists weigh in, to the effect that the 9/11 Commission has undermined Bush's stated reasons for war with Iraq -- but of course that was never actually one of the reasons! A mere technicality, I know, but still.
I don't know, but if I'm a journalist, wouldn't it be at least a bit embarrassing to have the subject of your story have to come out to issue a correction about it?
"There were connections between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein's government," said commission Vice Chair Lee Hamilton. "We don't disagree with that. What we have said is that we don't have any evidence of a cooperative, or a collaborative relationship between Saddam Hussein's government and these al-Qaida operatives with regard to attacks on the United States [italics added]. So it seems to me that the sharp differences that the press has drawn, that the media has drawn, are not that apparent to me."There's tons of stuff already out there here and here and here and here.
The report wasn't even close to saying what the papers said it said -- it's almost appears as if the media is being intentionally dense on the matter.