Is the tingle gone?

Matthews brings up the Pentagon-backed report about Saddam’s ties to al Qaeda I posted about yesterday.  It’s worth noting that both Obama and Matthews jump to the conclusion that this report says there were no connections between Saddam and al Qaeda.  What the report actually says is that there were no “direct operational” connections between Saddam and al Qaeda.  That’s a distinction with a big difference.

While Saddam may not have had “direct operational” connections with al Qaeda, he was certainly involved in sponsoring/aiding international Islamic terrorism in general as well as aiding al Qaeda big-wigs like Ayman al Zawahiri.  Saddam may not have been directly involved in plotting out al Qaeda missions, but he did support the group.  Think of him as a political contributor.  He sent his support to al Qaeda, but he wasn’t making the decisions.

Also, Obama saying that the report proves what he knew “all along” is absolute horse puckey.  Prior to invasion pretty much every serious politician in America, including most Democrats, thought Saddam Hussein had WMD’s.  Turns out they were wrong, but the fact is that we didn’t know until we invaded.  The same goes for the nature of Saddam’s interactions with al Qaeda.  We didn’t know for sure until we deposed Saddam and learned the truth.

Obama didn’t know anything, and claiming that he did know is the sort of thing you’d expect from a preening-but-naive politician more concerned about appearances than substance.