An urban myth, like
'The war was concoted in Texas'
or
'The war was fought solely for WMDs'
or
'The war was to steal Iraqi oil'
or
'Iraq is a quagmire'
or
'The Baghdad museum was looted of hundreds of thousands of items'
or
'The Iraqis are unworthy of democracy'
Dismissing out of hand the possiblity of links between Al Qaeda and the Baathists of Iraq is a precarious position.
Enjoy it.
As far as 'mainstream press', the NYT did not even admit to knowing that thousands of Iraqis have been in the streets protesting the terrorists and supporting the US.
Ed