The White House
President George W. Bush
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For Immediate Release
September 15, 2006

The Rest of the Story: Iraq's Links to Al Qaeda

      Setting the Record Straight

The Washington Post Quotes The President Without Including The Full Context Of His Remarks Distinguishing Al Qaeda From Saddam. The Washington Post: "On Sept. 25, 2002, just days after the CIA received the source's information, President Bush told reporters: 'Al-Qaeda hides. Saddam doesn't, but the danger is, is that they work in concert. The danger is, is that al-Qaeda becomes an extension of Saddam's madness and his hatred and his capacity to extend weapons of mass destruction around the world. ... [Y]ou can't distinguish between al-Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror.'" (Walter Pincus, "CIA Learned in '02 That Bin Laden Had No Iraq Ties, Report Says," The Washington Post, 9/15/06)

In February 2003, CIA Director George Tenet Testified That Iraq Had Links To Al Qaeda

The Washington Post Says That A CIA Report From Late September 2002 Claimed That Saddam Did Not Have Links To Al Qaeda. "The CIA learned in late September 2002 from a high-level member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle that Iraq had no past or present contact with Osama bin Laden and that the Iraqi leader considered bin Laden an enemy of the Baghdad regime, according to a recent Senate Intelligence Committee report." (Walter Pincus, "CIA Learned in '02 That Bin Laden Had No Iraq Ties, Report Says," The Washington Post, 9/15/02)

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