WHY OBSTINACY CAN BE A VERY BAD THING

"There's overwhelming evidence" of an Iraq-al Qaeda connection. "I am very confident there was an established relationship there." -- Vice President Dick Cheney, January 2004

"[Saddam Hussein] had long established ties with al-Qaeda."
-- Vice President Dick Cheney, speaking at the James Madison Institute, June 14, 2004

"If we're successful in Iraq . . . then we will have struck a major blow right at the heart of the base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11." "The Iraqi government or the Iraqi intelligence service had a relationship with al Qaeda that stretched back through most of the decade of the '90s."
-- Vice President Dick Cheney on NBC's "Meet the Press," September 2004

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."
-- Vice President Dick Cheney, 8/16/02

"My belief is we will in fact, be greeted as liberators."
-- Vice President Dick Cheney, 3/16/03

But then....

We have found no "collaborative relationship" between Iraq and al Qaeda.
-- The bipartisan Sept. 11 Commission, June 16, 2004

"To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two [Saddam and al Qaeda]."
-- Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, October 4, 2004

Saddam Hussein did not possess stockpiles of illicit chemical and biological weapons at the time of the U.S. invasion in March 2003, had not begun any program to produce them, and his nuclear capabilities were deteriorating, not advancing.
-- Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group, at a Senate Armed Services committee hearing, October 6, 2004

And yet....

"What we did in Iraq was exactly the right thing to do. If I had it to recommend all over again, I would recommend exactly the same course of action. The world is far safer today because Saddam Hussein is in jail, his government is no longer in power. And we did exactly the right thing."
-- Vice President Dick Cheney at the Vice Presidential Debate, October 5, 2004