Winston Smith, please call your office

Joshua Micah Marshall excerpts an infuriating snippet from a recent White House press gaggle in which Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary says yet again that there was a link between Iraq and 9/11. [link]

Here's the offending statement:

QUESTION: They had nothing to do with September 11th, the Iraqis.

MR. McCLELLAN: Oh, I beg to differ. September 11th taught us that we are living in a dangerous new world.

It would seem, from that statement, that McClellan is stating outright that the Iraqis had something to do with 9/11. This is a lie.

As proof, I suggest that perhaps Mr. McClellan ought to read his own transcripts, particularly from the press gaggle on September 17, 2003. Some background might be in order. The previous Sunday, September 13, 2003, Vice President Cheney had gone on "Meet the Press" and suggested that there was a link between Iraq and 9/11. Fearing a public backlash, because no such link had ever been found, in the following days, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, and then the President himself were forced to admit that no, there was no connection between Iraq and 9/11. [link]. At the press gaggle after the President's statement, this exchange occurred [link]:

QUESTION: Earlier today you said that the President made no connection between 9/11 and Iraq. You said that there was no indication that there was a linkage at all. Can you explain why the American people seem to know -- to believe, according to the polls, that there is a connection? Does the White House have anything to do with that, and are you going to do anything to disabuse the perception?

MR. McCLELLAN: You're right, if you're talking specifically about the September 11th attacks, we never made that claim.

So which is it, Scott?