Iraq and 9/11

I have selected this post concerning Bush's speech last night reattaching Iraq to 9/11 from the Scotsman because the headline just goes out and says it: "Bush Condemned for Bid to Link War with 9/11:"

British critics of the war in Iraq today condemned US President George Bush for attempting to link it with the September 11 atrocities in New York and Washington.

In an address on the situation in Iraq, at the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina last night, Mr Bush urged US citizens not to “forget the lessons of September 11”.

While I laud the resurgent criticism of The Administration's linkage of Iraq to the war on terror at this point, I also am confused by it. This has been the operative method of justification all along! Where was the criticism during the buildup, when we needed it in order to prevent this foolish war?

In a way, we must accept that Iraq indeed did happen due to 9/11. The Administration wants to link them causally in terms of preventative military strikes; but the rest of the world should be prepared to understand the lineage as being one of political manipulation. The Administration is in power during the worst and most painful catastrophe in contemporary American history; the Administration redresses that catastrophe to encompass a series of political goals they've had since the begining.

9/11 did not cause the invasion of Iraq- the lessons were not as stong as the President wants you to believe.

9/11 simply allowed The Administration to go invade Iraq.