In the first sentence of his July 19 syndicated column, FOX News Channel host Cal Thomas misquoted words spoken by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld during an interview Thomas himself conducted.

From Thomas's July 19 column:

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says there is “no question” the declaration presented by the United States to the United Nations justifying war against Iraq “was flawed, was inaccurate, was false,” but nonetheless President Bush “made the right decision.”

In fact, Rumsfeld's comments were directed at Saddam Hussein's declaration to the United Nations, not to the declaration presented by the United States to the United Nations. In a July 16 interview with Thomas on FOX News Channel's After Hours with Cal Thomas, Rumsfeld said:

Well, I think the president made the right decision. I think that there is no question, but that the declaration that was submitted to the United Nations by Saddam Hussein was flawed, was inaccurate, was false and that the United Nations had gone through some 17 resolutions and that it was appropriate to enforce those resolutions as the coalition did. So I believe the president did the right thing. I clearly supported that and believe it was the right thing to do.

Cal Thomas's column is syndicated by Chicago-based Tribune Media Services. His column is published in more than 540 newspapers, making him the most widely syndicated political columnist in the United States.