By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 26, 2003; Page A24

President Bush and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell defended yesterday a statement made by Powell early in 2001 that Iraq's Saddam Hussein did not have "any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction."

Bush and Powell were asked about the remark, made on Feb. 24, 2001, after it was discovered on the State Department's Web site. Bush, asked about how Hussein went from that status in February to becoming what he called a "great and gathering danger" a year and a half later, said his perspective was changed by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"Nine-eleven changed my calculation," the president said after a meeting with lawmakers at the White House. "It made it really clear we have to deal with threats before they come on our shore. You know, for a long period of time, we thought oceans could protect us from danger, and we learned a tough lesson on September the 11th."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2188-2003Sep25.html

(so now he's back to trying to tie hussein to 9/11 again?!? he flops more than a freshly caught trout on the floor of a boat.)