Glenn trots out another guy who swears ForRealThisTime that there is a credible link between Iraq and Al Qaeda. And that Bill Clinton killed Vince Foster.

Ok, not the last one.

Now, other than the fact that this guy doesn't seem to understand exactly why Islamists wouldn't be overly impressed with Saddam Hussein (he claims that "islamic rhetoric" shows that Hussein is somehow Islamic, and places scare quotes around the word "secular" without advancing any real reason why we shouldn't think that Ba'athists are different than Islamists), and the problem that all of his sources for this bombshell are anonymous ("a very senior CIA man", according to this writer), and other than the problem of bringing up Prague yet again when every time it comes up it keeps getting knocked down (and in this case supporting it with a mere bald assertion that "the czechs remained convinced that Atta did meet Al-Ani"), and aside from the fact that these things are probably wide open to interpretation and that we should have no reason to believe somebody whose desire to get Saddam practically jumps off the page, and aside from the problem of trying to connect a link between Al-Qaeda and Iraq back in 1992 with any culpability at all for the WTCs(a road down which the Bush administration does NOT want to travel, I'm sure), and other than mistaking these old connections for a casus belli that Iraq has violated the new resolutions, which is, of course, the issue at hand right now, not the old ones...

...this whole thing brings up the same old problem that it always has:

If Bush had it, he'd use it. If the CIA had anything even remotely of the sort, they'd be forced to tell Bush or their jobs would be instantly toast once he found out. They have no legitimate reason not to bring it out, either; despite all his implications, the author never gives a good reason why they'd bother, and it probably won't affect the possibility of Bush getting his war anyway. (Even if the CIA were categorically against it, something that barely passes the laugh test.) All he gives us is the fear that people will think that they've screwed up. Erm, newsflash: that's already happened.

Look, if this evidence exists, then bring it out into the open. For real, not with these half-assed quotations of shadowy sources saying ambiguous things. Take it to the Bush admin, if necessary; I'm sure that Cheney wants to find a connection so bad he can taste it. Until then, this is getting really old.