Good journalism from the Washington Post (no snark edition)

Check out the headline and lede for this story:

Palin Links Iraq to Sept. 11 In Talk to Troops in Alaska

By Anne E.
KornblutWashington Post Staff Writer Friday, September 12, 2008; Page A01
FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska, Sept. 11 — Gov. Sarah Palin linked the war in Iraq with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, telling an Iraq-bound brigade of soldiers that included her son that they would “defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans.”

The idea that the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein helped al-Qaeda plan the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a view once promoted by Bush administration officials, has since been rejected even by the president himself. But it is widely agreed that militants allied with al-Qaeda have taken root in Iraq since
the U.S.-led invasion.

Now that wasn’t so hard was it?

Update: Wingnuttia is naturally in an uproar, and in fact the headline and the story were softened a bit between the on-line and print editions.

Kristol’s defense is typically mendacious. There’s no doubt that what Palin said was intended to convey the idea that the U.S. invaded Iraq to destroy the people who planned and carried out 9/11. As Kornbult points out, the Bush administration pushed this line for years before being forced to discard it.

I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if Palin actually believes this, although no doubt her “handlers” are even now employing flash cards or whatever to keep her from going too much further in this vein.