Show Us Your Evidence: ‘It is a relief to see the new emphasis on evidence after the seesaw of recent weeks on the issue. Secretary of State Powell, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and others initially said that a compelling case would be made against Osama bin Laden, both to coalition allies and to the public at large. They (and President Bush, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and others) then retreated from that commitment, pointing instead only to previous threats bin Laden made, his indictment (not conviction) in the 1998 embassy bombings case almost three years ago, and the belief that the hijackers were linked to bin Laden. Since none of that amounts to evidence in the current case, questions arose regarding the strength of the administration’s case, and even whether the political need for reprisal was taking precedence over the need for careful identification of the actual culprits in this instance.

It didn’t help that the administration failed to disclose the expected evidence at last week’s meeting of NATO defense ministers.’ –Joe Pitts, The American Prospect