The Faithful Skeptic

Can you say, "Insane Republican Spin"?

Direct quotation from a speech by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at the Council on Foreign Relations (full transcript here, courtesty of the Department of Defense):

Q: My name is Glenn Hutchins. Mr. Secretary, what exactly was the connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda?

SEC. RUMSFELD: I tell you, I'm not going to answer the question. I have seen the answer to that question migrate in the intelligence community over the period of a year in the most amazing way. Second, there are differences in the intelligence community as to what the relationship was. To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two. (emphasis added)

Direct quotation from press release issued by the Department of Defense (full release here):

A question I answered today at an appearance before the Council on Foreign Relations regarding ties between Al Qaeda and Iraq regrettably was misunderstood.

I have acknowledged since September 2002 that there were ties between Al Qaeda and Iraq. (emphasis added)

Huh? Is he living in an alternate universe?

posted by Brian @ 6:36 PM