Khalid Sheik Mohammed

I don't know if, as some suspect, the confession of Khalid Sheik Mohammed is being released to distract the press and the public from the U.S. Attorney firings scandal. The transcript indicates that Mohammed made his statements on Saturday, March 10. Despite the possible political and p.r. benefits of releasing it now, the timing seems reasonable to me.

What I do know is that the confession shines a bright light on one of George W. Bush's most inexcusable lies.

"I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z," Mohammed told a panel of military officers through a personal representative, who read off a list of 31 terrorist acts that were either carried out or planned but not executed. According to transcripts released by Defense Department officials last night, Mohammed later spoke in broken English and Arabic, saying, "For sure, I'm American enemies."

Mohammed took responsibility for the attacks on New York and Washington in an interrogation detailed in the Sept. 11 commission's report. But his appearance before the tribunal at Guantanamo Bay marked the first time since his March 2003 arrest that he was allowed to make an extended statement that was not delivered to interrogators.

So, tell me again why Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq.