An article in The Times last Thursday, which tried to cast doubt on a report in the Weekly Standard that there were significant ties linking Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, produced this lollipop in today's correction column:

An article on Thursday about a disputed Defense Department memorandum that listed points of intelligence linking the Iraqi leadership of Saddam Hussein to the Qaeda terrorist network misstated the timing of the Pentagon's establishment of the Office of Special Plans in preparation for a possible war in Iraq. It was in October 2002, less than six months before the war — not a year or more.

So anti-war forces can still call Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld a war monger, but for only half as long.

William Safire's column in this morning's Times dives into the Saddam-bin Laden connection stories. He notes one piece of potential evidence - that Mohammad Atta met with an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in April 2001 - has been routinely deflated by both the FBI and "anti-liberation" forces because of an early claim there may be evidence Atta had rented a car to drive between Virginia and Florida during that time.

Safire notes that Edward Jay Epstein found out there was no Atta car trip. There was no Atta car rental. Atta, at the time, didn't yet have his driver's license. You need a driver's license to rent a car.