The Cheney police

Thinkprogress thinks they've caught Cheney in a "lie", in front of little chirldrun, no less:

“Addressing about 100 wide-eyed Wyoming high school students learning about government and the political process,” Vice President Cheney yesterday repeated one of the key fabrications that helped send the United States into war.

What was the key fabrication?

The implication that Zarqawi helped justify the war was thoroughly debunked last year by the Senate Intelligence Committee, then chaired by Bush loyalist Sen. Pat Roberts

They back up their charge with this post, which links the Senate Phase II report, largely complied by the then minority Democrats. TP didn't mention this little tidbit, for some reason:

About the same time, Jordanian authorities indicted Zarqawi in absentia for his role in the millennium plot. Jordanian investigators had followed his trail to Iraq and tried to persuade Saddam Hussein's government to extradite him.

"There is proof that he was in Iraq during that time," a Jordanian security official said. "We sent many memos to Iraq during this time, asking them to identify his position, where he was, how he got weapons, how he smuggled them across the border."

Hussein's government never responded, according to the official, who added that documents recovered after its overthrow in 2003 show that Iraqi agents did detain some Zarqawi operatives but released them after questioning.

Here was my opinion at the time of the Phase II release, and it's just as valid now:

The Senate could have saved a lot of trouble by just substituting Saddam's open letter of July 7 instead of their Phase II report. After all,

Saddam Hussein, ladies and gentlemen, is an honorable patriot and an honest man.

If Saddam said it, by God, Saddam meant it. But if Cheney said it, well...

HT Regime of Terror