WHEN MICHAEL SCHEUER, the first head of the CIA’s bin Laden unit, first emerged into public view almost a year ago, it was a curiosity how he could appear in the media–time after time–claiming that there was no evidence of a relationship between Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and al Qaeda. It was curious because, in 2002, Scheuer wrote the book Through Our Enemies’ Eyes, in which he cited numerous pieces of evidence showing that there was, in fact, a working relationship between Saddam and al Qaeda. That evidence directly contradicted his criticism of the intelligence that led this nation into the Iraq war, which he called a “Christmas present” for bin Laden. Yet in that first blush of attention, no interviewer was willing to question Scheuer about this contraction.

For example, on the November 16, 2004 edition of Hardball, Chris Matthews gave Scheuer a pass when he said that he had found “nothing” connecting Iraq and al Qaeda.