When REMFs Dance Around the Truth It Usually Turns Out To Be a Charlie Foxtrot

Sept. 17 — President Bush said today that he had seen no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as the White House tried to correct an assertion that Vice President Dick Cheney left extremely murky on Sunday.

Mr. Cheney, on "Meet the Press" on NBC-TV, was asked about polls that showed that a majority of Americans believed that Mr. Hussein had been involved in the attacks.

"I think it's not surprising that people make that connection," said Mr. Cheney, who leads the hawkish wing of the Bush administration. Asked whether the connection existed, Mr. Cheney said, "We don't know."

He described Mr. Hussein's reported connections to Al Qaeda, connections that American intelligence analysts say were not very deep.

Mr. Bush, asked by a reporter today about that statement, said, "No, we've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th," a far more definitive statement than the vice president's.

Bush Reports No Evidence of Hussein Tie to 9/11
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/18/national/18BUSH.html

Rocky Path for Bush: Effort to Remake Iraq Hits Roadblocks

Everywhere he turns — from the United Nations and Congress to allied capitals and the warrens of Baghdad and Tikrit — President Bush is finding major obstacles to his effort to secure and rebuild Iraq.

The problems, ranging from money to troops to moral support, are complicating White House efforts to assure the American public that the situation in Iraq will actually improve with time.

On the ground, there has been a pause in the sort of major bombing attacks that shook the administration's confidence and forced troops to dig more trenches and put up more barricades, isolating themselves from the country they are occupying.

But now some defense officials are saying the occupation force's state of siege, combined with continuing difficulties in restoring services in Baghdad, is making Iraqis increasingly hostile toward those who are supposed to be their liberators. And today, the eighth tape purporting to be from the deposed dictator, Saddam Hussein, surfaced, urging yet more attacks.

In addition, administration officials are acknowledging there may be an embarrassing lack of foreign donations to rebuild Iraq. European diplomats said today that the United States would be lucky to get $1 billion in pledges at a donors' conference in Madrid next month — about 10 percent of what the United States wanted, according to these officials.

The donor disappointment is, in turn, stirring resentment in Congress over Mr. Bush's request for $87 billion in military and economic assistance to Iraq in 2004. Some lawmakers are saying one big chunk of the huge package, the $15 billion earmarked for non-military activities, may be especially scrutinized, especially if donations from other countries are only a fraction of that sum.

Finally, the United States is having difficulties negotiating a new United Nations Security Council resolution to give the United Nations broader authority over Iraq. Such a resolution would make it easier to entice foreign donations and foreign peacekeepers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/18/international/middleeast/18DIPL.html