It Depends What the Meaning of "Relationship" Is:

"Talking to reporters after his Cabinet meeting this morning, President Bush disputed the 9/11 commission's conclusion that no 'collaborative relationship' existed between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida. 'There was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda,' Bush insisted. Then the president drew a distinction:

The administration never said that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al-Qaeda. We did say there were numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. For example, Iraqi intelligence agents met with bin Laden, the head of al-Qaeda in Sudan.

Let's examine these words closely because President Bush clearly chose them carefully. The latest chapter of the 9/11 commission's report, which was released Wednesday, notes that there were - as Bush put it - 'numerous contacts' between the two entities. It cites the same meetings with Iraqi intelligence agents that Bush cited. So Bush's 'dispute' with the commission's findings isn't a dispute at all. He just meant to make it look like a dispute - to make some people think the commission might be wrong...

It makes Bill Clinton's classic line—that the answer to a question "depends on what the meaning of 'is' is"—seem forthright, by comparison.

A final note: Bush has been careful in the way he's worded his charges and rationales. Dick Cheney has not. Last Sept. 14, on Meet the Press, Cheney said that a U.S. success in Iraq will mean "that we will have struck a major blow right at the heart of the base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11."

There's no getting around this one. Cheney wasn't merely suggesting, he was stating that the 9/11 terrorists' base was in Saddam's Iraq. Even Bush had to backpedal, admitting, "No, we've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with Sept. 11." The president is just sneaky. The vice president lies."