Rumsfeld's reversal: As recently as last month, Dick Cheney alleged a still-unsubstantiated link between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, saying Saddam had "provided safe harbour and sanctuary ... for al-Qaida." On the eve of Cheney's debate with John Edwards, Donald Rumsfeld reverses the stance long held by himself, Cheney and the administration. "[T]o my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two", Mr Rumsfeld said yesterday, claiming he was "misunderstood." A look at the record suggests that any misunderstanding was exactingly orchestrated by the Defense Secretary himself:

August 2002: Mr Rumsfeld claims "there are al-Qaida in Iraq", and accuses Saddam of "harbouring al-Qaida operatives who fled the US military dragnet in Afghanistan".

September 2002: "We do have solid evidence of the presence in Iraq of al-Qaida members, including some that have been in Baghdad," Mr Rumsfeld says. "We have what we consider to be very reliable reporting of senior-level contacts going back a decade, and of possible chemical and biological agent training."

October 2002: He tells a Pentagon briefing he had already been informed there is "solid evidence of the presence in Iraq of al-Qaida members".

March 2003: Mr Rumsfeld says the US-led coalition has solid evidence that senior al-Qaida operatives had visited Baghdad in the past, and that Saddam had an "evolving" relationship with the terror network.

September 2004: The defence secretary confuses the jailed Saddam and the fugitive Bin Laden in a speech to the US National Press Club: "Saddam Hussein, if he's alive, is spending a whale of a lot of time trying to not get caught. And we've not seen him on a video since 2001." He corrects himself when asked for clarification.