SCHIEFFER: Senator, let me ask you just what I--what I just asked the secretary of State. What, if any, is the connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden? And do you feel--what do you feel is the most direct threat that he poses? Is it that as he is able to manufacture these weapons of mass destruction and basically act as a wholesaler for these terrorist groups around the world that would be the retailers, or do you think he is planning some sort of an attack on the United States?
Sen. McCAIN: I think it's primarily that he is developing these weapons and has shown a proclivity to use weapons of mass destruction against his enemies, against his own people, and we know who his--his number-one enemy is. He has also in the past funded as well as assisted other terrorist groups. I don't know, Bob. I--I--I--I doubt seriously if there's this close relationship between al-Qaida and--and Saddam Hussein, but, look, if this guy were simply a--a survivalist, long ago he would have said, 'OK, come on in. You can have your inspections. I'll destroy my weapons of mass destruction.' He could have remained in power. But he's not that. He's invaded neighboring countries. He is hell-bent on acquiring these weapons of mass destruction, in the view of any expert. And, by the way, our intelligence has consistently not been accurate, not in 1981 when the Iraqis bombed the reactor; not in 1991 when we were astonished at the degree of development that he had achieved in we--in developing weapons of mass destruction, the stage of successes he had reached in that area. And so I don't know where he is in the stage of development, but there's very little doubt in my mind that he would use it.
This is what Schieffer was referring to:
SCHIEFFER: Mr. Secretary, if--if you were asking the United Nations to pass a resolution to go after Osama bin Laden, I think there would be unanimous support to do that. I think there would be unanimous support in the United States. But I think a lot of people still want to know what is the link between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein? Some people would say, Brent Scowcroft among them, that in fact Osama bin Laden may have Saddam Hussein on his hit list, because he is, after all--he's not a religious leader and so on. What's the connection?
Sec. POWELL: We have been examining all connections that may exist. There are some indications that there were contacts between the Iraqi regime and some al-Qaida members. There is no smoking gun that would link the regime in Baghdad to 9/11, but we can't dismiss it as a possibility entirely.
Pejman Yousefzadeh at RedState writes:
the 9/11 Commission confirmed the existence of a "collaborative relationship" between Saddam Hussein's regime and al Qaeda.
This is FALSE. Here's what the Commission did find:
FROM PAGE 66 OF THE 9-11 REPORT:
"According to the reporting, Iraqi officials offered Bin Ladin a safe haven in Iraq. Bin Ladin declined, apparently judging that his circumstances in Afghanistan remained more favorable than the Iraqi alternative. The reports describe friendly contacts and indicate some common themes in both sides' hatred of the United States. But to date we have seen no evidence that these or the earlier contacts ever developed into a collaborative operational relationship. Nor have we seen evidence indicating that Iraq cooperated with al Qaeda in developing or carrying out any attacks against the United States.76"
Cheney himself refused to deny there was a direct link between Saddam, Al Qaeda and 9-11, on Meet the Press, 9/8/2002:
Mr. RUSSERT: One year ago when you were on MEET THE PRESS just five days after September 11, I asked you a specific question about Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Let's watch:
(Videotape, September 16, 2001):
Mr. RUSSERT: Do we have any evidence linking Saddam Hussein or Iraqis to this operation?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: No.
(End videotape)
Mr. RUSSERT: Has anything changed, in your mind?
VICE PRES.CHENEY: Well, I want to be very careful about how I say this. I'm not here today to make a specific allegation that Iraq was somehow responsible for 9/11. I can't say that. On the other hand, since we did that interview, new information has come to light. And we spent time looking at that relationship between Iraq, on the one hand, and the al-Qaeda organization on the other. And there has been reporting that suggests that there have been a number of contacts over the years. We've seen in connection with the hijackers, of course, Mohamed Atta, who was the lead hijacker, did apparently travel to Prague on a number of occasions. And on at least one occasion, we have reporting that places him in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official a few months before the attack on the World Trade Center. The debates about, you know, was he there or wasn't he there, again, it's the intelligence business.
Mr. RUSSERT: What does the CIA say about that? Is it credible?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: It's credible. But, you know, I think a way to put it would be it's unconfirmed at this point. We've got...
Mr. RUSSERT: Anything else?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: There is--again, I want to separate out 9/11, from the other relationships between Iraq and the al-Qaeda organization. But there is a pattern of relationships going back many years. And in terms of exchanges and in terms of people, we've had recently since the operations in Afghanistan--we've seen al-Qaeda members operating physically in Iraq and off the territory of Iraq. We know that Saddam Hussein has, over the years, been one of the top state sponsors of terrorism for nearly 20 years. We've had this recent weird incident where the head of the Abu Nidal Organization, one of the world's most noted terrorists, was killed in Baghdad. The announcement was made by the head of Iraqi intelligence. The initial announcement said he'd shot himself. When they dug into that, though, he'd shot himself four times in the head. And speculation has been, that, in fact, somehow, the Iraqi government or Saddam Hussein had him eliminated to avoid potential embarrassment by virtue of the fact that he was in Baghdad and operated in Baghdad. So it's a very complex picture to try to sort out. And...
Mr. RUSSERT: But no direct link?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: I can't--I'll leave it right where it's at. I don't want to go beyond that. I've tried to be cautious and restrained in my comments, and I hope that everybody will recognize that.
Both Powerline and Patterico falsely deny that the Bush regime made any link.
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