Point-Counterpoint

In March 2003, when the US attacked Iraq, I did a lot of interviews for local media. In the very first one, for radio, I said that this war had nothing to do with the September 11 attacks. Those were the first words out of my mouth.

Wednesday, the 9/11 Commission reported that they had found no "collaborative relationship" between Iraq and al Qaeda.

Saturday's Washington Post discusses the political implications of this finding. After all, Bush provoked war on the basis that Iraq was central to the war on terror.

Point:

[Vice President Dick] Cheney, on CNBC, said the media had been irresponsible in reporting the commission's findings. "What they [the commission] were addressing was whether or not they [Iraq] were involved in 9/11," he said. "They did not address the broader question of a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda in other areas, in other ways."

Counterpoint:

In fact, commission spokesman Al Felzenberg on Friday confirmed that the commission was addressing the broader relationship. "We found no evidence of joint operations or joint work or common operations between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's government, and that's beyond 9/11," he said.

Point:

Cheney said Thursday in a television interview that he "probably" knew things about Iraq's ties to terrorists that the commission did not.

Counterpoint:

Late last week, commission leaders invited Cheney to provide intelligence reports that would buttress the White House's insistence that there were close ties between Hussein and al Qaeda, a commission member said. Commission Chairman Thomas H. Kean and Vice Chairman Lee H. Hamilton told the New York Times they wanted to see any additional information in the administration's possession...

Sounds like the 9/11 Commission is calling the administration's bluff.

Readers might want to note a Pew Research poll finding that Americans are more-and-more starting to see the Iraq war as a hindrance to the overall war on terror in their minds.