Like Broken Clockwork

When details of the NIE on global terrorism came out a few days ago, I linked to the NYT report and posted: "(Cue the talking-point retort: "But there was terrorism before the war in Iraq!")."

Here's President Bush at the press conference today:

You know, to suggest that if we weren't in Iraq, we would see a rosier scenario with fewer extremists joining the radical movement requires us to ignore 20 years of experience. We weren't in Iraq when we got attacked on September the 11th. We weren't in Iraq, and thousands of fighters were trained in terror camps inside your country, Mr. President. We weren't in Iraq when they first attacked the World Trade Center in 1993. We weren't in Iraq when they bombed the Cole. We weren't in Iraq when they blew up our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. My judgment is, if we weren't in Iraq, they'd find some other excuse, because they have ambitions.

A friend once told me that because of genetics, he was overweight before he started loading up on junk food so eating healthier wouldn't do him much good. You can probably guess what happened over the next few years.