Taranto falsely claimed Dean pronounced bin Laden innocent

In his May 23 "Best of the Web Today" column, Wall Street Journal OpinionJournal.com editor James Taranto claimed that Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean proclaimed Osama bin Laden innocent of involvement in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Taranto quoted Dean's May 22 appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, during which Dean highlighted "the insinuation the president continues to make to this day that Osama bin Laden had something to do with supporting terrorists that attacked the United States. That is false." From the full context of the quote, however, it is apparent that Dean misspoke: He clearly intended to refer to Saddam Hussein, not bin Laden.

Taranto wrote:

As for Osama bin Laden, Dean later pronounced him innocent:

Dean: The thing that really bothered me the most, which the 9/11 Commission said also wasn't true, is the insinuation that the president continues to make to this day that Osama bin Laden had something to do with supporting terrorists that attacked the United States. That is false. The 9/11 Commission, chaired by a Republican, said it was false. Is it wrong to send people to war without telling them the truth. And the truth was Osama bin Laden was a very bad person who was doing terrible things, but that Iraq was never a threat to the United States.

But Taranto omitted the question from host Tim Russert to which Dean was responding.