In a comment I left over at The Left Coaster, I wrote the following:
I think I understand now what the problem is: you people believe that Bushitler claimed that Saddam was behind the atrocities of 11 September 2001 because when you hear the term "al-Qaeda," you only think of "9/11." Thus, when the Bush Administration rightfully claims that the Saddamites and al-Qaeda were linked, your minds elide these three things into one statement: "Bush says Saddam was behind 9-11."
Now that I've explained to you why you are wrong, let me further explain the reason for your ignorance. Back when Bill Clinton was running things, al-Qaeda didn't mean anything to most Americans because of the lack of emphasis he put on the seriousness of the threat. He did virtually nothing to act against al-Qaeda or its leadership militarily and, instead, only pursued them as rogues and criminals. Had Clinton acted with authority and called these Islamofascists what they are, it's entirely possible that our domestic and foreign intelligence services would have already been on a higher level of alert by the time 11 September 2001 came around. Get it? If Clinton had done something more to call al-Qaeda a belligerent actor against our country, the dumbasses who now use the terms "al-Qaeda" and "9-11" interchangeably would know that, in fact, al-Qaeda had been at war with us for years before that awful morning.
Therefore, because of Clinton's failure to respond more forcefully to al-Qaeda, too few of you are aware that that network existed before 11 September 2001. This is y'alls fault, not that of the one man who is working hardest of all to stop the threat of Islamofascism.