The alleged linkage of Saddam Hussein with Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction

Headline: September 8, 2006: "Senate: No Prewar Saddam-al-Qaida Ties."

Contrary to the evidence, the Bush administration continues to insist that Saddam Hussein had ties to Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction prior to the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq.

According to a March 2, 2006, Zogby International Poll, "90% of American troops in Iraq believe that they are fighting to avenge Saddam Hussein's role in 9/11." [1]

"In his rhetoric," President George W. Bush "used the terrorist attacks to justify his assault against Iraq. But Osama Bin Laden, the alleged ringleader of the 9-11 attacks, was not in Iraq. The rebel leader, in fact shunned and denounced the leadership of Saddam Hussein as a betrayal of fundamental Islam," Ron Fullwood wrote in the March 17, 2006, OpEd News. Numerous assertions during 2002 by scholars and the intelligence community pointed out that there was no such association.

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Quotes

• "[Y]ou can't distinguish between Al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror". --George W. Bush, September 25, 2002.

• "We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11th ... There's no question that Saddam Hussein had al Qaeda ties." --George W. Bush, September 17, 2003.

Related SourceWatch Resources

• 'A war sold on deception'
• Ahmed Chalabi
• Bush doctrine
• Bush lies and deceptions
• Bush administration flip flops
• Bush administration lies that led to war
• Bush administration propaganda and disinformation
• Bush administration rationales for war in Iraq
• Bush's 16 words
• cooked intelligence
• Exit Strategy from Iraq
• fear
• Iraq as an imminent threat
• Islamofascism
• Judith Miller
• National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (a.k.a. 9/11 Commission)
• regime change
• rogue state
• stay the course
• The Cheney-Rumsfeld Cabal Deception
• "The Path to 9/11" (2006 Docudrama)
• Treasongate
• war in Iraq
• war propaganda
• weapons of mass destruction / weapons of mass destruction investigation
• White House Iraq Group

External Links

Documents

• Operation Iraqi Freedom Documents, Foreign Military Studies Office, Joint Reserve Intelligence Center, Ft. Leavenworth.
• "Iraq and Al Qaeda: Allies or Not?" prepared by Kenneth Katzman, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, Congressional Research Service, February 5, 2004.

Articles & Commentary

General

• "9/11 Commission Report," Wikipedia.
• "Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda," Wikipedia.

2001

• Joe Lauria, "Seeking Saddam's smoking gun," Boston Globe, July 29, 2001. re Laurie Mylroie's "Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America," American Enterprise Institute, 321 pp.

2002

• Paul Reynolds, "US Builds its Case Against Saddam," BBC (Global Policy), March 20, 2002.
• John McMurty, "'What Did Bush Know?' Reply to ZNet Commentary of May 22, 2002," ZMag, June 8, 2002.
• John Tirman, "One Year Later: Unintended Consequences of 9/11 and the War on Terrorism," AlterNet, August 29, 2002.
• Neil Mackay, "Plans For Iraq Attack Began On 9/11," CBS News, September 4, 2002.
• "Bush planned Iraq 'regime change' before becoming President," Sunday Herald, September 15, 2002.
• Michael E. O'Hanlon, "Rumsfeld's Exaggerations: On the Saddam/Al-Qaeda Link," Brookings Institution, October 2, 2002.
• "'President' Beats the Drum of War Without Any Sticks," The Left Hook, October 9, 2002.

2003

• "Claims and Facts: Rhetoric, Reality and the War in Iraq" (5-part series), Center for American Progress, 2003.
• Jason Burke, "Al-Qaeda - a meaningless label," The Observer (UK), January 12, 2003.
• Paul Lashmar and Raymond Whitaker, "Ordinary Americans think Bin Laden and Saddam are the same man...," Independent (UK), February 2, 2003.
• jriddle, "Iraq & Al Qaida. What Is the Truth?" The Left Hook, March 5, 2003.
• Linda Feldman, "The impact of Bush linking 9/11 and Iraq. American attitudes about a connection have changed, firming up the case for war," Christian Science Monitor, March 14, 2003.
• Opinion: "Bush always suspected Saddam was behind 9/11. Find undermines Blair's doubts on link, writes Con Coughlin," Telegraph (UK), April 27, 2003.
• David Pratt, "War - Was It Worth It?: al-Qaeda & terrorism," Sunday Herald, May 25, 2003.
• "Media Silent on Clark's 9/11 Comments. Gen. says White House pushed Saddam link without evidence," FAIR, June 20, 2003.
• Jim Lobe, "The Other Bush Lie," TomPaine.com (AlterNet), July 15, 2003.
• Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, Opinion: "The Next Debate: Al Qaeda Link," New York Times (RAND Corporation), July 20, 2003.
• Shaun Waterman, "White House 'delayed 9-11 report'," UPI, July 25, 2003.
• Tony Karon, "How Close Were Iraq and Al-Qaeda? Of preemptive wars and 'murky intelligence'," TIME, July 30, 2003.
• Jason Leopold, "Wolfowitz: Iraq Not Involved in 9-11, No Ties to al-Qaeda," Antiwar.com, August 7, 2003.
• "US public thinks Saddam had role in 9/11," The Observer (UK), September 7, 2003.
• Greg Mitchell, "Media Must Explain Lack of 9/11-Saddam Link," Editor & Publisher, September 11, 2003.
• Anne E. Kornblut and Brian Bender, "Cheney link of Iraq, 9/11 challenged," Boston Globe, September 16, 2003.
• "Rice: U.S. Never Said Saddam Was Behind 9/11," Reuters (Free Republic), September 16, 2003.
• "Rumsfeld sees no link between Saddam Hussein, 9/11," Associated Press, USA Today, September 16, 2003.
• Steve Soto, "Bush Backtrack on Saddam/9-11 Link Creates Legal Problem," The Left Coaster, September 17, 2003.
• Dana Milbank, "Bush Disavows Hussein-Sept. 11 Link. Administration Has Been Vague on Issue, but President Says No Evidence Found," Washington Post, September 18, 2003.
• Michael Moran, "Saddam and 9/11: On the record. Critics say administration has allowed misconception to persist," MSNBC, September 18, 2003.
• Steve Holland, "Bush Distances from Cheney on Saddam-9/11 Link," Reuters (Common Dreams), September 18, 2003.
• Greg Miller, "No Proof Connects Iraq to 9/11, Bush Says," Los Angeles Times, (Global Policy), September 18, 2003.
• "Bush rejects Saddam 9/11 link" and "Bush administration on Iraq 9/11 link," BBC, September 18, 2003.
• Billmon, "The Gang Puts in a Good Word for Saddam," Whiskey Bar, September 18, 2003.
• Justin Raimondo, "Another 9/11? Portents of terror reappear, as Bush has second thoughts about the war," Antiwar.com, September 22, 2003.
• Stephen F. Hayes, "Case Closed. The U.S. government's secret memo detailing cooperation between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden," The Weekly Standard, November 4, 2003.
• Peter Bergen, "Armchair Provocateur. Laurie Mylroie: The Neocons' favorite conspiracy theorist," Washington Monthly, December 2003.
• "Does this link Saddam to 9/11?" Telegraph (UK), December 14, 2003.
• Jim Lobe, "Rumsfeld and his 'old friend' Saddam," Asia Times, December 17, 2003.
• Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball, "Dubious Link Between Atta and Saddam. A document tying the Iraqi leader with the 9/11 terrorist is probably fake," Newsweek (MSNBC), December 19, 2003.

2004

• Chris Mooney, "Did Our Leading Newspapers Set Too Low a Bar for a Preemptive Attack?" Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 2004.
• Warren Strobel, Jonathan S. Landay, and John Walcott, "Doubts cast on efforts to link Saddam, al-Qaida," Knight Ridder Newspapers, March 2, 2004.
• "Condoleezza Rice's Credibility Gap. A point-by-point analysis of how one of America's top national security officials has a severe problem with the truth," Center for American Progress, March 26, 2004.
• "New evidence of Saddam link to 9-11. Czech records indicate Atta meeting with Iraqi official in Prague," WorldNetDaily, May 7, 2004.
• Laurie Mylroie, "The Saddam-9/11 Link Confirmed," FrontPage Magazine, May 11, 2004; also posted by Free Republic.
• "Saddam's Files. New evidence of a link between Iraq and al Qaeda," WSJ Opinion Journal, May 27, 2004.
• "9/11 panel sees no link between Iraq, al-Qaida. Commission opens final hearing before release of report," MSNBC, June 16, 2004.
• "9-11 Commission," PBS Online NewsHour, June 16, 2004.
• Don Gonyea, "Bush Maintains Saddam, Al Qaeda Links," NPR, June 17, 2004.
• Eric Alterman, "Think Again: No Link? Who Knew?," Center for American Progress, June 17, 2004.
• David Corn, "Powell and Bush Spin Away on al Qaeda Link," The Nation, June 17, 2004.
• Andrew C. McCarthy, "Iraq & al Qaeda. The 9/11 Commission raises more questions than it answers," National Review Online, June 17, 2004.
• Walter Pincus and Dana Milbank, "Al Qaeda-Hussein Link Is Dismissed," Washington Post, June 17, 2004.
• Center for American Progress, "Administration Misled Country On Iraq-al Qaeda Connection," June 17, 2004.
• Jerry Seper, "Saddam link to 9/11 not likely," Washington Times, June 18, 2004.
• Joseph Farah, "Osama-Saddam links 9-11 commission missed. Overwhelming evidence of connection between al-Qaida, Iraq before attack," WorldNetDaily, June 18, 2004.
• "Spinning 9/11. The press ignores the commission's most interesting findings," WSJ Opinion Journal, June 18, 2004.
• Jason Leopold, "The Bush Compulsion with Saddam. Someone Tell Bush that Iraq Wasn't Responsible for 9/11 Before He Starts Another War," CounterPunch, June 20, 2005.
• "Where's the proof? If Vice President Cheney has secret evidence of a link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida, he has an obligation to share it with the 9/11 commission," St. Petersburg Times (FL) Op-Ed, June 22, 2004.
• E.J. Dionne, Jr., "9/11 Credibility Gap. Hussein's Ties to the Attacks? Show Us the Proof," Washington Post, June 22, 2004.
• "Bush Contradicted On Iraq & al Qaeda? Or not? Even the 9-11 comissioners don't agree about whether their staff contradicted the Bush administration," FactCheck.org, June 22, 2004; modified September 10, 2004.
• "O'Reilly distorted 9-11 Commission findings, blamed the press," Media Matters for America, June 25, 2004.
• Peter Bergen, "The Wrong War. Backdraft: How the war in Iraq has fueled Al Qaeda and ignited its dream of global jihad," Mother Jones, July/August 2004.
• James Bovard, "Saddam as the Twentieth Hijacker," Freedom Daily (The Future of Freedom Foundation), September 2004.
• "Polls Influenced Public Misperception of Saddam 9/11 Link," U.S. Newswire, September 10, 2004.
• "Edwards: Bush mislead Americans, implied Saddam-9/11 terrorist link," Associated Press (The Houstonian Online), September 14, 2004.
• "Questions of Linkage," PBS Online NewsHour, October 6, 2004.
• Dennis Hans, "Did 'Anonymous' Condi Join The Neocons And Cheney In Pushing The Saddam-9/11 Connection?" Scoop (New Zealand), October 12, 2004.
• Jim Lobe, "Bush Backers Steadfast on Saddam-Al-Qaeda, WMD," Inter Press Service, October 21, 2004.
• Russ Baker, "Exclusive: Bush Wanted To Invade Iraq If Elected in 2000," GNN, October 27, 2004.
• Robert S. Leiken, "The Truth about the Saddam - al Qaeda Connection," In the National Interest, November 2004.
• "Whitewash as Public Service. How The 9/11 Commission Report defrauds the nation," Harper's Magazine, November 12, 2004.

2005

• Andrew C. McCarthy, "It’s All About 9/11. The president links Iraq and al Qaeda — and the usual suspects moan," National Review Online, June 29, 2005.
• "GOP lawmaker: Saddam linked to 9/11. N.C. representative says 'evidence is clear'," CNN, June 29, 2005.
• Stephen F. Hayes & Thomas Joscelyn, "The Mother of All Connections. A special report on the new evidence of collaboration between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and al Qaeda," The Weekly Standard, July 18, 2005.
• Jim Lobe, "Dating Cheney's Nuclear Drumbeat. Framing the Plame Case," TomDispatch, August 1, 2005. TomGram Intro by Tom Engelhardt.
• "Still Dreaming of Saddam-9/11 Connection," News Hounds, August 24, 2005.
• Judd Legum, "Bush Blames Carter, Reagan, Clinton for 9/11," Think Progress, August 30, 2005.
• "Al-Qaeda official who made Saddam-9/11 links proven to be fraud; Bush changes subject with new offensive," Eternal Hope Blog, November 6, 2005 (link to Editor & Publisher failed).
• News Release: "Setting the Record Straight: Sen. Levin On Iraq," White House, November 14, 2005.
• Evelyn Pringle, "Bush Gang Swore Saddam was behind 9/11 in Lawsuit," Media Monitors Network, November 16, 2005.
• Murray Waas, "Key Bush Intelligence Briefing Kept From Hill Panel," National Journal, November 22, 2005.
• "Report: 9/11-Iraq link refuted days after attack. Magazine says administration refused to give key docs to Senate committee," MSNBC, November 22, 2005.
• Roger Aronoff, "Saddam's Links to Al Qaeda," Accuracy in Media, December 2, 2005.
• georgia10, "Bush Rewrites History, Claims He Never Made Saddam-9/11 Link," Daily Kos, December 17, 2005.

2006

• Deroy Murdock, "Saddam's Terrorist Links Revealed," Scripps Howard News Service (13WHAM-TV Rochester, NY), January 26, 2006.
• Walter Pincus, "Ex-CIA Official Faults Use of Data on Iraq. Intelligence 'Misused' to Justify War, He Says," Washington Post, February 10, 2006.
• Cliff Kincaid, "Newsweek Does it Again," Accuracy in Media, February 14, 2006.
• "DoD Staffer's Notes from 9/11 Obtained Under FOIA," Outraged Moderates, February 16, 2006.
• Dennis Rahkonen, "The genesis of a lie: How George Bush fabricated the Iraqi WMD myth," Online Journal, February 21, 2006.
• Paul Krugman, "Osama, Saddam and the Ports," New York Times (truthout), February 24, 2006.
• "2001. After 9-11: Neocons Push for Iraq, 'Even if Evidence Does Not Link Iraq'," ZFacts.com, February 24, 2006.
• Paul R. Pillar, "Intelligence, Policy, and the War in Iraq," Foreign Affairs / Council on Foreign Relations, March/April 2006.
• Murray Waas, "What Bush Was Told About Iraq," National Journal, March 2, 2006.
• News Release: "Experts Call for Release of 9/11 Evidence," PRWeb (9/11 CitizensWatch), March 2, 2006.
• Michael Barone, "Denying al-Qaida," Townhall.com, March 6, 2006.
• Marie Therese, "FOX News: Still Desperate to Link Saddam to Al Qaeda," News Hounds, March 8, 2006.
• Scott Malensek, Report: "Media Reports Connect Saddam to 9/11 Plot," Accuracy in Media, March 9, 2006.
• Sam Wells, "Captured Iraqi intel confirms pre-war links between Saddam's regime and terrorists," Enter Stage Right, March 13, 2006.
• "New Documents from Saddam Hussein's Archives Discuss Bin Laden, WMDs. U.S. Government Releases Papers From Saddam's Reign," ABC News, March 16, 2006.
• Ron Fullwood, "Bush's Strategy of Preemption," OpEd News, March 16, 2006.
• Melanie, "Fox Continues the Lie that Iraq and 9/11 are Linked," News Hounds, March 16, 2006.
• David Corn, "Still Looking for that Smoking Gun in Iraq," The Nation, March 17, 2006.
• Claude Salhani, "US must know how to pick its enemies," Khaleej Times, March 17, 2006.
• Ghali Hassan, "Iraq: A victim of international terrorism," Online Journal, March 17, 2006.
• Don Van Natta, Jr., "Bush Was Set on Path to War, British Memo Says," New York Times, March 27, 2006.
• Julie Mason, "Bush shifts back to terror message. President again tries to subtly link 9/11 with Iraq," Houston Chronicle, September 2, 2006.
• Jim Abrams, "Senate: No Prewar Saddam-al-Qaida Ties," Associated Press (Forbes), September 8, 2006.
• Dana Priest and Ann Scott Tyson, "Bin Laden Trail 'Stone Cold'. U.S. Steps Up Efforts, But Good Intelligence On Ground is Lacking," Washington Post, September 10, 2006.
• Judd Legum, "Cheney Ignores Senate Intel Report, Cites Zarqawi As Evidence of Iraq/Al Qaeda Connection," Think Progress, September 10, 2006. Includes video and transcript.
• Gretchen Peters, "Where Is Osama Bin Laden? Five Years After the 9/11 Attacks, There Are Few Explanations About Why He Has Not Been Caught," ABC News, September 11, 2006.
• "Cheney insists on Iraq-al-Qaeda link," PerthNow/Sunday Times (Australia), September 11, 2006.
• Walter Shapiro, "The never-ending War. The president uses the fifth anniversary of our national tragedy to promise a global conflict that will last decades," Salon, September 12, 2006.
• Marie Woolf, "Blair 'turned blind eye to Iraq intelligence' in Bush meeting," Independent (UK), September 24, 2006.