Yes… no… yes
September 10, Washington Post:
“As it makes its case against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the Bush administration has for now dropped what had been one of the central arguments presented by supporters of a military campaign against Baghdad: Iraq’s links to al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.”
September 26, BBC News:
“The United States has accused Iraq of having long-standing links with the al-Qaeda network. Two senior Bush administration figures, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, made the allegations – without giving detailed information to back them up.”
If you read the first article [registration required], you’ll see that there is apparently little evidence to support the contention that Saddam Hussein has in any way suported al Qaeda. Reading the second article will show that when Rumsfeld and Rice trotted out these allegations again, they didn’t offer any actual proof to back them up. Given the U.S. government’s history of sometimes playing fast and loose with the facts in order to gain support for a war (Gulf of Tonkin anyone?), it doesn’t require any great mental leap to realize that this is likely just an attempt by the Bush administration to garner support for it’s goal of invading Iraq.
