I applaud the sentiment of Holmes’ essay that assassinating bin Laden was a “failure of the human spirit.” However, like many Americans, Holmes is wrong that Iraq had anything to do with the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The 2004 9/11 Commission Report found no substantive link between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s regime, i.e. between bin Laden and Iraq.
In spite of this, as late as 2007 a Newsweek poll estimated that 41 percent of Americans thought that “Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq was directly involved in planning, financing, or carrying out the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001.”
That Holmes and so many of us are still mistaken is a triumph of the disinformation campaign carried out on the US public during the run-up to the Iraq War.
The links below are to relevant Wikipedia articles and a CBS 60 Minutes interview.
http://tinyurl.com/60min-clarke
http://tinyurl.com/no-iraq-alqaeda
Frank Hansen
Forest Park
