By any reasonable standard, this is a tricky one to get out of. Dick Cheney lied about Iraq-al Queda ties on Monday and got caught. George W. Bush backed up Cheney’s lie on Tuesday. The 9/11 Commission made them both look ridiculous on Wednesday by debunking this persistent myth.
So, what happens next? Republicans, at this point, appear to have a limited set of choices. The deception here is not only obvious, it’s all over the news. They could issue an apology and admit they were wrong, but we know that won’t happen. They could insist their earlier remarks were “taken out of context,” but that probably wouldn’t get them very far.
Proving once again that Republican leaders are far cleverer in their mendacity than I could ever be, they have two new strategies: Deny reality and attack the messenger.
Republicans on the Hill are taking the latter approach. The spin can be summed up as, “Don’t believe the 9/11 Commission; believe the GOP.”
House Republican lawmakers are disputing the Sept. 11 commission’s new finding that there is “no credible evidence” showing Iraq and al Qaeda worked together to attack the United States.
The GOP comments signify the latest rift between congressional Republicans and the commission. Many Republicans on Capitol Hill believe the panel has become partisan, and some have objected to the amount of media interviews commissioners have granted over the past couple of months. This tension has led some to speculate that Hill Republicans are unlikely to embrace the panel’s final recommendations, which are expected to be released at the end of July.
Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told The Hill: “I don’t put much credence in the 9-11 panel,” adding that he had not yet read the new report.
Right. If the bi-partisan commission is making you look like a fool, then the commission must be wrong.
This one was particularly rich:
[W]hen pressed on the specifics of the report, Republican lawmakers glossed over the lack of so-called “operational” evidence and pointed to the fact that al Qaeda and Iraq share the same goal of killing Americans.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), the chairwoman of the International Affairs Middle East Subcommittee, said: “Whether or not there is a direct link to the World Trade Center does not mean that Iraq is not meritorious of shedding blood. The common link is that they hate America.”
This is a GOP classic. By this standard, there’s a “link” between al Queda and every country in the world that hates the U.S. Fidel Castro must be held accountable for the terrorist attacks of 9/11 because he hates America, too.
To hear Ros-Lehtinen tell it, proof of meaningful ties is no longer important before we begin a massive invasion and occupation; if a country doesn’t like America, they have a “common link” with the 9/11 terrorists. Brilliant.
Cheney, for his part, has decided to just insist that he’s right, reality be damned.
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.
[…]
“The administration’s statements rest on a solid foundation of history and facts. The record of links between Iraq and al Qaeda is clear to anyone who has open eyes and an open mind,” a White House official said on Wednesday.
In other words, don’t believe the 9/11 Commission, don’t believe U.S. weapons inspector David Kay, and don’t believe Colin Powell; trust Dick Cheney’s word.
(Insert laughing sound here.)