Molly Ivins -- How we got here: Our terrifying 'War on Terror'

In August, the National Journal reported on three former Bush national security officials who had said "the prewar evidence tying Al Qaeda to Iraq was tenuous, exaggerated and often at odds with the conclusions of key intelligence agencies." Greg Thielmann, formerly of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, said intelligence confirmed that Saddam and Al Qaeda were "mortal enemies." Osama bin Laden often denounced Saddam Hussein as "an infidel."

Guess someone forgot to tell the president and the vice president. The one known connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda is that for a time an Al Qaeda operative was in Baghdad, presumably up to no good, although we have no evidence. Uh, there were 18 Al Qaeda operatives lurking in this country -- does that make us guilty of harboring terrorists?

The fact that 70 percent of the American people are under the misimpression that Saddam was connected to 9-11 seems to me a shocking indictment of the news media. I think we need to go back and explain how we got where we are.