Not the best couple of days for the Administration

[CamB]

Selected highlights include:

Bremer wanting more troops, Rumsfeld flip flop on Saddam/Al Qaeda link, and the pending official flip flop on whether Saddam had WMD or WMD programmes:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,134557,00.html

Bremer last month, in a speech at DePauw University in Indiana, said he had raised within the Bush administration the issue of too few troops and "should have been even more insistent" when his advice was rejected.

...In an unusual public acknowledgment of internal dissent, Bush campaign spokesman Brian Jones said Bremer and the military brass had clashed on troop levels.

"Ambassador Bremer differed with the commanders in the field," Jones said. "That is his right, but the president has always said that he will listen to his commanders on the ground and give them the support they need for victory."

The White House, meanwhile, sought to put the brightest face possible on the final report by the American weapons inspector in Iraq, Charles Duelfer (search), due out Wednesday. In earlier drafts, Duelfer found Saddam had left signs he had idle weapons programs he someday hoped to revive, but that Saddam did not have stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.

President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top administration officials said repeatedly before invading Iraq that Saddam did have such weapons and that they posed a threat not only to Iraq's neighbors but to the United States as well. The weapons were the main justification for the invasion.

Even before Duelfer's final report was issued, McClellan said it bolstered the White House's assertions on Iraq.

Separately, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld ignited another brush fire Monday, saying he knew of no "strong, hard evidence" linking Al Qaeda (search) and Saddam Hussein. He later backed off the statement and said he was misunderstood.

McClellan ticked off a litany of what he said were links between Iraq and Al Qaeda. Both were "sworn enemies of the free world, including the United States," and both "celebrated the Sept. 11 attacks on America," he said.

"There are clearly ties between Saddam Hussein's regime and Al Qaeda," McClellan said. "We know there were senior-level contacts between the regime and Al Qaeda — the 9/11 commission documented that," McClellan said.

In fact, the Sept. 11 commission (search) report said that while there were "friendly contacts" between Iraq and Al Qaeda and a common hatred of the United States, none "ever developed into a collaborative relationship."

Phew, I'm giddy from all the spin in the last two Speaking of spin (actually from the NY Times):

http://www.iht.com/articles/542216.html

CLEVELAND Determined to win the post-vice presidential debate spin war Tuesday night, President George W. Bush's campaign was calling on its supporters to flood the news media immediately after the debate with declarations supporting Vice President Dick Cheney's performance.

Ken Mehlman, Bush's campaign manager, sent out an e-mail early Tuesday, telling the president's backers: "Immediately after the debate, visit online polls, chat rooms and discussion boards and make your voice heard" proclaiming that Cheney had won.

In the note, which was sent to the 6 million supporters on the campaign's e-mail list, Mehlman said, "People's perceptions are shaped as much by their conversations around the water cooler as by the debates themselves."

The note also exhorted supporters to follow up by writing letters to their local newspapers and by calling in to radio talk shows.

[CamB]

And more:

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6422548

The CIA report concludes Zarqawi was in and out of Baghdad, but cast doubt on reports that Zarqawi had been given official approval for medical treatment there as President Bush said this summer, ABC said.

Before last year's invasion to topple Saddam, the Bush administration portrayed Zarqawi as al Qaeda's link to Baghdad.

Following Saddam's capture in December and waves of suicide attacks on U.S. and Iraqi security forces which followed, Zarqawi quickly became America's top enemy in Iraq. The United States placed a $25 million bounty on his head.

[pwd72s]

Cam, you've convinced me. Kerry should be president...or prime minister..or whatever it is you call your primary leader down there in New, new, ...well, whatever...that place with lots of mountains and sheep. Yep, you can have him.

[CamB]

Hmmm, interesting - we have a woman who looks AND talks kinda like him (NZ accent, similar deepness of voice).

I know, I know, I should stick to my own country. Problem is, yours makes decisions that affect mine.