Saturday, September 09, 2006
No Saddam - al-Qaeda pre-war link reports says
Intelligence
According to two newly declassified reports released on Friday by the Senate Intelligence Committee, Saddam Hussein had no links with al-Qaeda - in contradiction to what Bush and other administration officials claimed at the time. The reports were based on a previously undisclosed October 2005 CIA assessment.
Democrats said the data showed that top administration officials, including Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, misled the public to drum up support for war in Iraq by alleging a link between Saddam and the militant network. Bush asserted as recently as an August 21 news conference that Saddam had links with Zarqawi. The CIA report's assessment was similar to the conclusion reached by the bipartisan 9/11 commission, which found in 2004 there had been no "collaborative relationship" between Saddam and al Qaeda.
