Did a Forgery Lead Us into War?

I still encounter people who, in defiance of all reality, think that Saddam was somehow behind the 9-11 attacks. Just six months ago I noticed I was getting hits from some site I had never heard of. Upon checking it out, the author had written something along the lines of "Another liberal who's forgotten we were attacked on 9-11." Which, needless to say, I found infuriating for a couple of reasons.

First, I'm only a liberal if you also believe Barry Goldwater was a liberal. I consider myself a conservative, but a conservative who favors a smaller Federal government. George W. Bush and the Republican party of the last 20 years have forgotten their conservative roots, and done more to destroy the movement than any number of gay weddings ever could. There is nothing "conservative" about increasing the power of government to control our daily lives. Chipping away at people's personal freedoms is NOT what the conservative movement used to stand for.

Secondly, what do the 9-11 attacks have to do with Iraq? Not a damn thing. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, which is an American ally. The group's leader was from Egypt, also a friendly nation. Two more were from the United Arab Emirates, also an ally. The remaining one was from Lebanon, which at the time was largely under the control of Syria. If the 41% of Americans who continue to believe Saddam was somehow behind the attacks would simply take their heads out of their asses long enough to look for themselves, they might finally realize they were duped into this war.

It remains to be seen what effect--if any--the new book from Ron Suskind will have on public opinion. Unfortunately, I'm guessing none.

Suskind, a Pulitzer winning investigative journalist, alleges in The Way of the World, that the Bush White House ordered the CIA to forge a letter linking Saddam's government to Al Qaeda in order to justify the attack on Iraq. If true, this is nothing short of a criminal action that justifies impeachment.

The existence of this letter has been known for years. It first surfaced in late 2003 and treated as a genuine article at the time. Over the coming months it soon became apparent that the letter was actually a fake, but its origins remained unknown.... Until now.

But does it really matter at this point? No, and don't look for Congress to suddenly grow balls and seriously pursue these allegations. Besides, in another six months Bush will be gone, and by then he will have pardoned pretty much everyone in his administration--including himself.