Exhaustive review finds no link between Saddam and al Qaida
The new study of the Iraqi regime's archives found no documents indicating a "direct operational link" between Hussein's Iraq and al Qaida before the invasion.
Warren P. Strobel, McClatchy Newspapers
Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Ken Mitchell
A child rides by the head of the Saddam Hussein monument taken down from Paradise Square in Baghdad in April 2003. Stephanie Sinclair / Chicago Tribune
An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.
The Pentagon-sponsored study, scheduled for release later this week, did confirm that Saddam's regime provided some support to other terrorist groups, particularly in the Middle East, U.S. officials told McClatchy. However, his security services were directed primarily against Iraqi exiles, Shiite Muslims, Kurds and others he considered enemies of his regime.
The new study of the Iraqi regime's archives found no documents indicating a "direct operational link" between Hussein's Iraq and al Qaida before the invasion, according to a U.S. official familiar with the report.
Related: Pentagon cancels release of report finding no link between Saddam and al Qaida
Related: Former Rumsfeld/Wolfwowitz Deputy: Iraq War Is A ‘Major Debacle,’ ‘Classic Case Of Failure’
