Since the Washington Post has again decided to let the public read their articles without inventing a rude new username, I started poking around.  Soon I came across the ever helpful (I assume) Andres Martinez.  He is the message force multiplier in charge ensuring the uninformed masses never escape their ignorance through his "Stumped" column.  In todays piece, he manages to set rational thought back at least 5 years.

After a mildly interesting but meandering discussion of the presidential pension system in response to an equally meandering question re presidential pensions, Mr. Martinez decided to attack this potential doozy:

I keep reading that the Bush administration linked Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks. Can you give a date, place and person in the administration who said this? Along with Saddam's WMD, it was used as one of the reasons for going to war with Iraq.

Seems reasonable to me.  You'd figure there should be ample examples easily available.  Indeed Martinez promptly offers up a few of the weakest.  He then dismisses the entire thought with a most stunning piece of revisionism.

...I realize it's a titillating subject for conspiracy buffs who retroactively see a vast plot to dupe mainstream politicos into supporting a war they feel should have never been waged. Yes, the administration wanted to suggest there was a link between Baghdad and the 9/11 attacks to sell the war to the public. But there's too much 20-20 hindsight at play here. I don't believe anyone relied upon that claim to support a war he or she would have otherwise opposed.

Excuse me!  Did I go on a memory-draining crack binge sometime in the last couple of years? 

The way I remember it, there were two reasons we were given to invade Iraq: links to Al Qaeda and WMDs.  Terrorists were the eminent threat.  Al Qaeda was the delivery mechanism that would supposedly get WMDs from Iraq to America.  Fear of Saddam giving Al Qaeda (non existent) WMDs is why we "needed" to invade Iraq.

This brings up an interesting question, exactly what claim do you suppose Andres Martinez believes compelled America to support the Iraq war?  That question has me truly stumped.