Links between Saddam's Iraq and al-Qaeda

There's been some battling in the media and political circles over the links between al-Qaeda and Saddam-era Iraq. It was prompted by the release of an interim report by Philip Zelikow, the executive director of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, better known as the "9/11 Commission." The report, entitled "Overview of the Enemy", concludes «There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and al
Qaeda also occurred after Bin Ladin had returned to Afghanistan, but they do not appear
to have resulted in a collaborative relationship.(...)We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States.».
Based on this, the papers claimed "Panel Finds No Qaeda-Iraq Tie" (NYTimes), "Al Qaeda-Hussein Link Is Dismissed" (WashPost) and Sen. John Kerry said "the president owes the American people a fundamental explanation about why he rushed to war for a purpose that it now turns out is not supported by the facts.»
Bush and Cheney quickly retorted that there is evidence of a relationship between Saddam and al-Qaeda. With his usual eloquence, Bush stated «"The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al Qaeda: because there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda.» The right-wing pundits rallied in Bush's defense. Even Putin stunned everyone by saying Russia's intelligence services gave the Bush administration information after 9/11 terror that suggested Saddam's regime was planning to strike against the United States.
Part of the controversy can be blamed on blurring two separate links: Saddam-al Qaeda, and Saddam-9/11. All parts seem to accept that there were ties between Saddam and al-Qaeda. But while Zlikow concludes there is «a lack of evidence of "operational" ties between Iraq and al Qaeda», thus dismissing the ties to nonsubstantive, the Bush Administration hypes the relationship into an indictment of Saddam and a justification for the invasion and occupation.
Time put it best by stating «the Bush Administration sometimes sounds like a teenager carefully delineating the different shades of romance from "seeing other people" to "hanging out" to "hooking up."» The 9/11 Commission's conclusions referred to the Saddam-9/11 link. Bush&Co. insisted on a Saddam-al Qaeda linked and that it had never claimed a Saddam-9/11 link.
Now, the Press may have overstated the case in their headlines, and didn't help much to clarify the matter (what else is new). But Bush and particularly Cheney have been playing the 'link to 9/11' card all throughout the war buildup, by consistently mentioning Saddam and 9/11 together they have helped shape the public misconception that the two were linked, even if the implication was never spelled out. «Back in 2002 Bush stated that "you can't distinguish between al-Qaeda and Saddam in the war on terror." And when Bush declared war on Iraq last year, he sent a letter to Congress citing Iraqi involvement in 9/11 as one of the reasons for war.»(Time Magazine).

« In late 2001, Cheney said it was "pretty well confirmed" that attack mastermind Mohamed Atta had met with a senior Iraqi intelligence official. Later, Cheney called Iraq the "geographic base of the terrorists who had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11." Bush, in 2003, said "the battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11th, 2001."
In January [2004], Cheney said the "best source" of information on the subject was an article in the Weekly Standard, which reported: "Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein had an operational relationship from the early 1990s to 2003 that involved training in explosives and weapons of mass destruction, logistical support for terrorist attacks, al Qaeda training camps and safe haven in Iraq, and Iraqi financial support for al Qaeda -- perhaps even for Mohamed Atta -- according to a top secret U.S. government memorandum." » WashPost June/17

William Saffire in a NYTimes OP-ED blames the 9/11 «commission's leaders for ducking responsibility for its interim findings» and generating uneccessary confusion. But Bush and Cheney have been at it for some time longer. Perhaps Saffire, a former speech writed for Dick Nixon, is joining in the attacks against the commission, accusing it of being politcally charged and acting to undermine Bush. Perhaps he would have preferred it be chaired by the first suggestion for the job, Henry Kissinger.