http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/terror/20040617-0837-sept11-bush.html
Bush takes issue with finding that 'no credible evidence' exists of link between Iraq and al-Qaeda
By Deb Riechmann
ASSOCIATED PRESS
8:37 a.m. June 17, 2004
Associated Press
President Bush speaks to reporters as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld looks on at the end of a Cabinet meeting at the White House Thursday.
WASHINGTON – President Bush on Thursday disputed the Sept. 11 commission's finding that there was no "collaborative relationship" between Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaeda terrorist network responsible for the attacks.
"There was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda," Bush insisted following a meeting with his Cabinet at the White House.
"This administration never said that the 9-11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al-Qaeda," he said.
"We did say there were numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, for example, Iraqi intelligence agents met with (Osama) bin Laden, the head of al-Qaeda in Sudan."
The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks said Wednesday that no evidence exists that al-Qaeda had strong ties to Saddam Hussein – a central justification the Bush administration had for toppling the former Iraqi regime. Bush also argued that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, which have not been found, and that he ruled his country by with an iron fist and tortured political opponents.
Although bin Laden asked for help from Iraq in the mid-1990s, Saddam's government never responded, according to a report by the commission staff based on interviews with government intelligence and law enforcement officials. The report asserted that "no credible evidence" has emerged that Iraq was involved in the Sept. 11 strikes.
Bush said Saddam was a threat because he had not only ties to al-Qaeda, but to other terrorist networks as well.
"He was a threat because he provided safe haven for a terrorist like al-Zarqawi who is still killing innocents inside Iraq," he said, referring to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is considered the most dangerous foreign fighter in Iraq and one of the world's top terrorists.
Attention on al-Zarqawi has increased in recent months as he became a more vocal terror figure, due in part to three recordings released on the Internet, including the video showing the beheading of American businessman Nicholas Berg. The State Department and other agencies that handle counterterrorism are considering raising the reward for al-Zarqawi from $10 million to $25 million, putting him on par with two al-Qaeda leaders and Saddam, now jailed.
"The world is better off and America is more secure without Saddam Hussein in power," Bush told reporters in the Cabinet Room where he met with his advisers to discuss Iraq and the economy.
It was Bush's 25th meeting with the Cabinet since the start of his presidency in January 2001.
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