Fact Checking the President's Speech

The folks over at non-Partisan FactCheck.org aren't too impressed with President Bush's Tuesday night speech.

First they cite the President's statement that "progress is uneven" in Iraq -- but then he points only to positives, ignores negatives, and leaves you wondering what's really "uneven" in his explanation.

They also take him to task for again linking Saddam Hussein to al Qaeda and the 9/11 attaks:

"Bush quoted a recent tape-recorded message by bin Laden as evidence that the Iraq conflict is 'a central front in the war on terror':

Bush: Hear the words of Osama bin Laden: 'This Third World War is raging' in Iraq...'The whole world is watching this war.' He says it will end in 'victory and glory or misery and humiliation.'

However, Bush passed over the fact that the relationship between bin Laden and the Iraqi insurgents -- to the extent one existed at all before -- grew much closer after the US invaded Iraq. Insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi did not announce his formal allegiance with bin Laden until October, 2004. It was only then that Zarqawi changed the name of his group from 'Unification and Holy War Group' to 'al Qaeda in Iraq.'"

Back on September 17, 2003, President Bush admitted there was no link between Saddam, Iraq, and 9/11:

"We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11 [attacks]."

--President Bush, Sept, 2003

And the 9/11 Commission found no link either as it reviewed US intelligence reports. (FactCheck.Org)