Missed connections.(media coverage of final report on September 11 attacks; links between Al-Qaeda, Saddam Hussein)

'PANEL Finds No Qaeda-Iraq Tie" was the headline in the New York Times for its front-page story on the interim report of the 9/11 commission. "Al Qaeda-Hussein Link Is Dismissed" was the headline of the front-page story in the Washington Post. The leads of both pieces quoted the report's denial that there had been a "collaborative relationship" between Iraq and al-Qaeda, one of the Bush administration's "justifications"--the Times called it "central," the Post called it "main"--for the Iraq war. The staff of the 9/11 commission and the media enacted a form of batting practice: The staff sent an easy pitch in the middle of the strike zone, and the media rapped it out of the park. This was another intelligence failure, like WMD; Bush is a blundering boob; vote for Kerry.

Reading the whole story modifies the picture somewhat. In paragraph three, the Post admits that the report admits "there had been contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda," which the Times, in paragraph eight, describes as "repeated contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda in the 90's." Both papers, like the report itself, deny that these amounted to collaboration, but that sidesteps the issue of possible threat. September 11 changed the strategic game board, even as it raised the stakes immeasurably for us. After 3,000 murders, anyone playing footsie with al-Qaeda, or with any terrorist gang, has to show repentance and cooperation, as Libya is ...