Bush has finally admitted that there is no connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11 :

President Bush said Wednesday there was no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 ? disputing an impression that critics say the administration tried to foster to justify the war against Iraq.

“There’s no question that Saddam Hussein had al-Qaida ties,” the president said. But he also said, “We’ve had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th.”

The president’s comment was the administration’s firmest assertion that there is no proven link between Saddam and Sept. 11. It came after Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday clouded the issue by saying, “It’s not surprising people make that connection” between Saddam and the attacks.
. . .
A recent poll indicated that nearly 70 percent of Americans believed the Iraqi leader probably was personally involved. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday, “I’ve not seen any indication that would lead me to believe that I could say that.”

Hmmm…I wonder why Americans have gotten the idea that there was a connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11. Could it be because Bush constantly mentions 9/11 when talking about Iraq? Here he is during the State of the Union.

Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda. Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own.

Before September the 11th, many in the world believed that Saddam Hussein could be contained. But chemical agents, lethal viruses and shadowy terrorist networks are not easily contained. Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other plans — this time armed by Saddam Hussein.

And he did it again during his infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech in May.

The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 — and still goes on. That terrible morning, 19 evil men — the shock troops of a hateful ideology — gave America and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions. They imagined, in the words of one terrorist, that September the 11th would be the “beginning of the end of America.” By seeking to turn our cities into killing fields, terrorists and their allies believed that they could destroy this nation’s resolve, and force our retreat from the world. They have failed.

Before that was his speech in October 2002 (while Congress was debating an Iraqi resolution)

We also must never forget the most vivid events of recent history. On September the 11th, 2001, America felt its vulnerability — even to threats that gather on the other side of the earth. We resolved then, and we are resolved today, to confront every threat, from any source, that could bring sudden terror and suffering to America.

Members of the Congress of both political parties, and members of the United Nations Security Council, agree that Saddam Hussein is a threat to peace and must disarm.
. . .
The attacks of September the 11th showed our country that vast oceans no longer protect us from danger. Before that tragic date, we had only hints of al Qaeda’s plans and designs. Today in Iraq, we see a threat whose outlines are far more clearly defined, and whose consequences could be far more deadly.

And there was the “Can I have some money?” speech from a week and a half ago.

Since America put out the fires of September the 11th, and mourned our dead, and went to war, history has taken a different turn. We have carried the fight to the enemy. We are rolling back the terrorist threat to civilization, not on the fringes of its influence, but at the heart of its power.

This work continues. In Iraq, we are helping the long suffering people of that country to build a decent and senate society at the center of the Middle East.

Sure, Bush hasn’t claimed that Saddam was flying one of the planes that hit the WTC, but his continual name-dropping of September 11th is done with the clear purpose of implying that the attacks on 9/11 and the war in Iraq are connected when they clearly aren’t. There may be a difference between misleading and lying, but the result is the same.

As far as Bush’s repeated allegations that Saddam had connections with al Qaeda, I think it’s farfetched to think that religious fundamentalists like Osama bin Laden and a secular dictator like Saddam Hussein would be able to find much common ground (other than a shared enemy). As a powerful man once said :

“Fool me once, shame on ? shame on you. Fool me ? you can’t get fooled again.”