Instead of reporting on the clear terrorism links that Saddam had before 2003 that is set out, the press will simply state there was no "smoking gun" formal alliance between Saddam and bin Laden and end their inquiry there. But
But Saddam was hip deep in terrorism. Al Qaeda-affiliated thugs did not carry out operations with Saddam but they were no strangers to Saddam's regime:
A Pentagon review of about 600,000 documents captured in the Iraq war attests to Saddam Hussein's willingness to use terrorism to target Americans and work closely with jihadist organizations throughout the Middle East.
The report, released this week by the Institute for Defense Analyses, says it found no "smoking gun" linking Iraq operationally to Al Qaeda. But it does say Saddam collaborated with known Al Qaeda affiliates and a wider constellation of Islamist terror groups.
See the report here and skip to page 33 of the PDF (page 13 of the document) for the details.
And remember, none of this is arguing that Saddam directly aided the 9/11 attacks. Somehow, whenever a war supporter notes Saddam's ties to terrorism, the anti-war side screams that there is no connection between Saddam and the 9/11 attacks. It is a strange reaction to a charge never made.
