Apparently while I was on vacation, a steady stream of former White House figures decided they needed to appear on TV in an attempt to rewrite the legacy of the Bush administration. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to have taken the time to get their stories straight. For example, Condoleezza Rice recently told Charlie Rose that “No one was arguing that Saddam Hussein somehow had something to do with 9/11” while just seven days before that Ari Fleischer told Chris Matthews “After September 11th having been hit once how could we take a chance that Saddam might strike again?”
Sheesh.
Of course, it is very easy for anyone who looks to find plenty of examples of Bush, Rice, Cheney, Fleischer, and others linking Saddam Hussein to 9/11, not only in the lead-up to the Iraq war, but again during the last few months.
But to me, the more interesting question is why these people are suddenly so desperate to rewrite history? Especially since they previously never seemed to care what anyone thought about them. Why don’t they just ignore the truth, like they did so many times in the past, rather than being compelled to lie and lie again?
My only guess is that perhaps, somewhere, deep and hidden in the lonely recesses of their hearts, these people realize that they are indeed guilty of lying, and that their lies are serious enough to be prosecuted as war crimes.
And they are scared.
