Hopelessly confused, Rumsie flip-flops on Al Qaeda-Iraq connection

For God's sake, I can't even keep this straight.

First, Rumsfeld admitted publicly yesterday, rather long-windedly, that there was no credible connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq, and whadya take me for anyway, an intelligence expert? Read the NYTimes story here, or the Nexis transcript here.

Then he issues a press release saying:

"A question I answered today at an appearance before the Council on Foreign Relations regarding ties between Al Qaeda and Iraq regrettably was misunderstood.

"I have acknowledged since September 2002 that there were ties between Al Qaeda and Iraq.

"This assessment was based upon points provided to me by then CIA Director George Tenet to describe the CIA's understanding of the Al Qaeda-Iraq relationship."


So I guess that means Rumsfeld is sticking with the discredited intelligence from two years ago? Or that he was forced back onto the Administration's official talking points? Perhaps because Cheney is going to keep insisting that the connection exists in tonight's debate? But why would they do that? Maybe because their polls show that a lot of people still think there was a connection and that's why we went to war? Come to think of it, that must be it.