The cat is now out of the bag.

Under increasing pressure from all sides, including his fellow Republicans, George Bush has finally come clean and admitted the truth - Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11.

"We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in Sept. 11."

It is fascinating to watch the story of Bush's admission hitting Number One on news sites around the world. I clicked on the Google link to the Guardian story, then clicked "related stories" and got just one page of links. I clicked again a few minutes later and there were more than three pages. Surely this is going to be big news, particularly as seven in ten US citizens still believe Saddam and 9/11 were linked?

Bush's statement comes hot on the heels of similar retractions from Cheney (who was forced to retract statements made over the weekend - see below), Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz.

Rumsfeld on Tuesday, asked about links between Saddam and 9/11:

"I've not seen any indication that would lead me to believe that I could say that.''

Cheney on Sunday, talking to Meet The Press host Tim Russsert:

"'Reconstituted nuclear weapons.' You misspoke?"
"Yeah, I did misspeak .... We never had any evidence that he had acquired a nuclear weapon."

Wolfowitz on Firday, challenged about a TV claim that "a great many of bin Laden's key lieutenants are now trying to organize in cooperation with old loyalists from the Saddam regime to attack in Iraq":

"Zarqawi is actually the guy I was referring to – should have been more precise... It's not a great many – it's one of bin Laden's key associates – probably better referred to that way than a key lieutenant."

So what is the new administration take going to be? Condoleeza Rice was already preparing the ground yesterday, saying the administration never actually SAID THAT.

What are you going to call these habitual White House lies? Political Spin? Betrayal of trust? Tampering? Censoring? A disregard for truth? Overstatement for emphasis?

Cheney, who is now using the Orwellian word "mis-speak", might have been wheeled out of the cupboard just to take the fall on this one.