It appears that the White House's summer PR offensive includes a subtle recalibration of their persistent inference -- that they back away from when directly challenged -- that Saddam was connected to 9/11. It was used by George Bush in a speech to the Merchant Marine graduates this morning:
As we saw on September the 11, 2001, the actions of a repressive regime thousands of miles away can have a direct impact on our own security.
The regime is not specified but one assumes it's the Taliban. However, the 9/11 attacks were conceived in various Asian countries, the logistics were run from Germany and Spain, while the preparations, training, and of course implementation took place in the United States. While the Taliban were implicated through harbouring Osama Bin Laden, this was only possible because of a previous lack of state capacity to enforce law and order (as is now unfolding in Somalia) -- not what one thinks is the problem with a Saddam-style repressive regime. But the fact that it takes a few sentences to explain this makes it an excellent line from the White House perspective.
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