One of the many strawman arguments that war opponents trot out is that there's no link between Saddam and September 11 (irrelevant, of course, since the administration never claimed one, and none was necessary to justify removing Saddam). But the Telegraph says that the new Iraqi government has uncovered evidence that Mohammed Atta was trained in Baghdad by Abu Nidal two months before the towers came down, something that wouldn't have happened without the knowledge and encouragement of Saddam's regime.

Don't hold your breath waiting to read about this in the New York Times.

But, Rand...neither Atta nor Abu Nidal had anything to do with oil. This can't possibly mean anything. It's just convenient after-the-fact "evidence" the Bushies are hoping will distract the sheeple from the quagmire, the ongoing depression, and plastic Thanksgiving turkeys.

/moonbat

Seriously, what connection do you suppose there is to Abu Nidal's mysterious(?) death last November?

Just disposing of evidence, I suspect. He was probably killed as part of whatever operation was busily hiding WMD...

Makes you wonder if Saddam was training up new useful idiots to attack the US. I vaguely remember, but wasn't there an incident a few years ago where some Iraqi women on an airliner were caught trying to smuggle in some kind of dangerous chemical or biological matter? It was a few years before 9-11 occured.

The timing of this proves that Bush is incompetent, dumb, or incapable of guile.

This story shouldn't have even been hinted at until after Dean had a first-round majority of the delegates, and arguably not until after he'd officially received the nomination.

Maybe we'll just have to settle the matter by asking Saddam himself.

I still think we need to worry about the credibility of the source. I see nothing in the Telegraph story which indicates that they have independent proof (eg, handwriting analysis or other study of the document) that this document is genuine. OTOH, at least someone official is putting their reputation on the line. This is better than the previous anonymous leaks that allegedly show illegal Iraqi WMD development.

Although Iraqi officials refused to disclose how and where they had obtained the document, Dr Ayad Allawi, a member of Iraq's ruling seven-man Presidential Committee, said the document was genuine.

"We are uncovering evidence all the time of Saddam's involvement with al-Qaeda," he said. "But this is the most compelling piece of evidence that we have found so far. It shows that not only did Saddam have contacts with al-Qaeda, he had contact with those responsible for the September 11 attacks."

Debunked...

Didn't take long.