SADDAMA:

Bush mixes Saddam, Osama (AFP, 12/19/05)

US President George W. Bush did for just one second what critics have accused him of doing for two years: Mixing up terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and ousted Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein.

The momentary slip of the tongue came as Bush defended his decision to order spying on US citizens without court warrants and assailed the leak that brought the controversial program to light as "shameful."

"In the late 1990s, our government was following Osama bin Laden because he was using a certain type of telephone. And then the fact that we were following Osama bin Laden because he was using a certain type of telephone made it into the press as the result of a leak," he said.

"And guess what happened? Saddam -- Osama bin Laden changed his behavior. He began to change how he communicated. We're at war. And we must protect America's secrets," Bush said during a year's end press conference.

He's gotten so good at that particular "slip," you have to wonder if he practices it beforehand.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 19, 2005 4:39 PM