O'Neill backpedals:

the CNN headline reads: 'Frenzy' distorted war plans account

"People are trying to make a case that I said the president was planning war in Iraq early in the administration," O'Neill said.

"Actually, there was a continuation of work that had been going on in the Clinton administration with the notion that there needed to be regime change in Iraq."

The idea that Bush "came into office with a predisposition to invade Iraq, I think, is a total misunderstanding of the situation," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters at the Pentagon.

Bush administration officials have noted that U.S. policy dating from the Clinton administration was to seek "regime change" in Iraq, although it focused on funding and training Iraqi opposition groups rather than using military force

Well, to be fair, they did threaten to investigate him, and the former treasury secretary is probably keenly aware of the magnitude of the legal bills so many amassed in the wake of the Whitewater investigation. Still--

1.You blink, and a moment later O'Neill and Rumsfeld are reading off the same notes. They got to him, Mugsy.

2. O'Neill is shocked-- shocked, that his attempt to stir controversy to sell his book has resulted in people attaching meaning to what he was implying. After all, there's our friend context. Allways fall back on that. And if that doesn't work--

3. Blame Clinton. It was his fault for setting the groundwork for toppling Saddam Hussein. I mean, if you don't like toppling. If toppling's still o.k. with you, we can reassess later. It's all good.