Justifying the Iraq war

This is fantastic:

"Saddam Hussein and people like him were very much involved in 9/11," Rep. Robin Hayes said. Told no investigation had ever found evidence to link Saddam and 9/11, Hayes responded, "I'm sorry, but you must have looked in the wrong places." Hayes, the vice chairman of the House subcommittee on terrorism, said legislators have access to evidence others do not.

I'm not sure if I have anything else to say about this issue. Most of the conservatives I respect make the legitimate case that Saddam was a fascist dictator who was dangerous to his neighbors and catastrophically repressive to his own people, and that that's why the war was justified. I disagree that this justifies the war, as I think we facilitated him when it was convenient to do so, but at least my hawkish brethren are willing to discuss it on a level playing field. Mr. Hayes, disputing both John McCain and President Bush with this assertion, has left the building.

I guess I feel like Hayes is rewriting history before our eyes. I want our children to grow up remembering 9/11, and knowing that it may take military and civil action to combat terrorism. But I also want them to know that our government is capable of subtle propaganda campaigns, and that they should approach the news and government press releases with a commanding knowledge of history--more than Hayes knows--and skepticism.

Fair?