I suppose a person that used the lump on his shoulders might have assumed that the "linkage" was in possabilities, not fact. That is to say, Saddam would have done everything in his power to create a 9/11/01 type incident. That is what I got from the Admisitration at the time, anyway.
Of course, it is easier to "remind" people of what you want them to think after the fact, re: the whole Democratic party line at this point.