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You may recall that this writer, James Risen, was the same one who put in the New York Times the tale that Czech President Vaclav Havel "quietly" called the administration to say that the meeting really didn't occur.

The way it was told, it made a good story about a decent guy that didn't want to embarass his own people too much.

Problem was, it was absolutely false.

I think the person who created that disinformation made a blunder by grabbing too far. Not subtle enough - Havel denied it immediately.

Which raises an issue, what interests were so interested in keeping the sanctions regime on Iraq they would risk making up such falsehoods?

The report cited a photograph taken by a bank surveillance camera in Virginia showing Mr. Atta withdrawing money on April 4, 2001, a few days before the supposed Prague meeting on April 9, and records showing his cell phone was used on April 6, 9, 10 and 11 in Florida.

Slings and Arrows: Jayson Blair is gone, but his spirit remains.

Dishonesty, yes, but combined with a healthy dose of stupidity. I guess the NYT reporter is not familiar with the concept of air travel, and that it is entirely possible for Atta to be in Virginia on April 4 and then miraculously materialize in Prague on April 9. Also, I guess it never occured to this budding genius that his cell phone could very well have been used in Virginia while he was somewhere else, IF SOMEONE ELSE USED IT!

Now, its bad enough when a reporter for a widely-circulated newspaper accepts this claptrap unquestioningly, but when the government commission empaneled to study 9/11 and make recomendations to improve our national intelligence and security efforts to repeat a future attack issues this tripe with a straight face, it makes me very thankful that we have people with a laser focus on what is important running the Executive Branch.