Toronto Star : Al Qaeda link disputed

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Al Qaeda link disputed

September 9, 2006

WASHINGTON—Saddam Hussein had no relationship with Al Qaeda, including Iraq-based guerrilla Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, despite claims by U.S. President George W. Bush and other administration officials, a Senate report released yesterday says.

The report is one of two newly declassified reports released by the Senate Intelligence Committee. The other report explored the role inaccurate information from Iraqi National Congress — an anti-Saddam group of exiles — had in the march to war. Bush forces funded INC, despite a Defence Intelligence Agency warning against doing so.

Democrats said the data showed Bush, U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, misled the public to drum up support for invading Iraq.

In Iraq, police and army troops fanned out yesterday to safeguard the Shiite holy city of Karbala, as a mortar attack killed three pilgrims heading there for a religious festival.

REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS