Anyone up for some irony?

The title "Iraq: Denial and Deception" is from a document, or rather a series of documents, consisting of letters and speeches by Bush on Iraq, located on the Whitehouse website:

America has laid out the facts for the world to see. Saddam Hussein has chemical weapons programs, and the means to use them. Saddam Hussein has a biological weapons program, and the means to deliver those weapons. He has secretly attempted to obtain materials needed to produce nuclear weapons. Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda. He harbors a senior al Qaeda leader who ordered the assassination of an American diplomat — the same man who plotted against Spain and Italy in the Republic of Georgia, and Russia, and Great Britain, and France, and Germany.

. . . .

Military force is always this nation’s last option.

. . . .

America will also be acting with friends and allies. An overwhelming majority of NATO members oppose the threat of Iraq, and understand that tough choices may be necessary to keep the peace.

. . . .

If there is a conflict, American forces will act in the honorable traditions of our military, and in the highest moral traditions of this country.

If you go through the "Iraq: Denial and Deception" documents on the Whitehouse.gov leading up to the war, in virutally every speech or release Bush mentions 9/11, and frequently al Qaeda. Here is one example:

One of the greatest dangers we face is that weapons of mass destruction might be passed to terrorists, who would not hesitate to use those weapons. Saddam Hussein has longstanding, direct and continuing ties to terrorist networks. Senior members of Iraqi intelligence and al Qaeda have met at least eight times since the early 1990s. Iraq has sent bomb-making and document forgery experts to work with al Qaeda. Iraq has also provided al Qaeda with chemical and biological weapons training.

We also know that Iraq is harboring a terrorist network, headed by a senior al Qaeda terrorist planner. The network runs a poison and explosive training center in northeast Iraq, [ed: i.e., Kurdish controlled] and many of its leaders are known to be in Baghdad. The head of this network traveled to Baghdad for medical treatment and stayed for months. Nearly two dozen associates joined him there and have been operating in Baghdad for more than eight months.

A few paragraphs later, Bush concludes:

On September the 11th, 2001, the American people saw what terrorists could do, by turning four airplanes into weapons. We will not wait to see what terrorists or terrorist states could do with chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons. Saddam Hussein can now be expected to begin another round of empty concessions, transparently false denials.

Another excerpt of a Bush speech:

Before September the 11th, during a period when a lot of us thought oceans would protect us forever from gathering threats far from our land, the thought of containing somebody like Saddam Hussein made sense — so we could step back in America and say, gosh, well, don’t worry, he’s only a threat to somebody in the neighborhood, and we might pick or choose whether or not we’re going to help in the neighborhood.

But, see, our fellow citizens must understand that September the 11th, 2001 changed the equation. It’s changed the strategic outlook of this country, because we’re not protected by oceans. The battlefield is here. And therefore, we must address threats today as they gather, before they become acute.

Today, in one of the most unrepentent displays of mendacity ever, Cheney accuses the press of "laziness" and blames it for conveying the putative misimpression that this administration ever said anything which linked Hussein and 9/11. I actually agree that the press is being somewhat lazy — but only for failing to call Cheney on the absolute tenditiousness and lack of forthrightness on this shameless denial of responsibility.