By the way.

As mentioned in the last post, the White House was given reason to believe that the forced testimony of Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi was suspect as early as February, 2002. By March of 2004, we now know that the CIA had formally rejected the intelligence derived from his interrogations - the very intelligence that supported allegations of ties between Saddam Hussein's ugly little tyranny and al-Qaeda. Okay? Okay.

So, just for laughs, here's this - from June 18, 2004.

Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday the evidence is "overwhelming" that al Qaeda had a relationship with Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, and he said media reports suggesting that the 9/11 commission has reached a contradictory conclusion were "irresponsible."

"There clearly was a relationship. It's been testified to. The evidence is overwhelming," Cheney said in an interview with CNBC's "Capitol Report."

"It goes back to the early '90s. It involves a whole series of contacts, high-level contacts with Osama bin Laden and Iraqi intelligence officials."

"The press, with all due respect, (is) often times lazy, often times simply reports what somebody else in the press said without doing their homework."

Three days earlier, President Bush had argued that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was himself demonstrable proof of Saddam's ties with al-Qaeda, but that particular round of grasping at straws doesn't have much to do with what the Egyptians wrung out of Mr. Libi, so I'll give it half a pass.

Knowing what we now know, it's hard to make Mr. Cheney look both honest and in his right mind on this one, though.