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April 7, 2007 -- A newly declassified report by the U.S. Defense Department has found there was little evidence to support the Bush administration's claims of a connection between Al-Qaeda and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Pentagon report, issued by the Defense Department's inspector general on April 6, quotes a 2002 CIA document that says: "Overall, the reporting provides no conclusive signs of cooperation on specific terrorist operations" between Hussein's government and Al-Qaeda. Speaking on April 5, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney repeated assertions that such a link did exist before the decision was made to invade Iraq. Leading up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq to oust Hussein, Cheney and several top U.S. officials voiced suspicions about an Al-Qaeda-Hussein link. (AP, AFP, dpa) Copyright (c) 2007. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org |
