Condi Rice, taken from the NY Times:

Defending the rationale for the military campaign in Iraq, she told the group: “Terrorists in the Palestinian territories have lost the patronage of Saddam Hussein. Other regimes in the region have been clear � given clear warning that support for terror cannot be tolerated. Without this outside support for terrorism, Palestinians who are working for reform and long for democracy will, over the long term, be strengthened and encouraged.”

So we went to war in Iraq in order to reduce Palestinian terrorism? Somewhat less moving than the image of a mushroom cloud over Manhattan, don’t you think?

The term “grasping for straws” comes to mind.