A trip down memory lane…
During President Bush’s presidential daily briefing (PDB), Bush is
informed that the US intelligence community has found no evidence
linking Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq to the 9/11 attacks, nor any
evidence of links between Hussein and al-Qaeda. The briefing has been
prepared at the request of Bush, who is said to be eager to learn of
any possible connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda. Yet during the
briefing, he is told that the few believable reports of contact between
the two were in fact attempts by Hussein to monitor the group, which he
considered a threat to his secular regime. Analysts believe that at one
point Hussein considered infiltrating al-Qaeda with Iraqi nationals or
Iraqi intelligence operatives, so as to learn more about its inner
workings. A former US administration official later will state, “What
the President was told on September 21 was consistent with everything
he has been told since—that the evidence [linking Iraq to 9/11] was
just not there.” The existence of the September 21 PDB will not be
disclosed to the Senate Intelligence Committee until the summer of
2004, while the committee will be investigating whether the Bush
administration misrepresented intelligence information in the period
leading up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. As of the end of 2005,
the Bush administration will still refuse to turn over the briefing,
even on a classified basis, and will say nothing more about it other
than the fact that it exists. [<a href="http://nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2005/1122nj1.htm" target="__newwindow" onmouseover="return overlib('Waas, Murray. 2005. “Key Bush Intelligence Briefing Kept From Hill Panel.” National Journal. 22 December.’, CAPTION, ‘National Journal, 12/22/2005’)” onmouseout=”return nd()”>National Journal, 12/22/2005; <a href="http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10164478/" target="__newwindow" onmouseover="return overlib('MSNBC. 2005. “Report: 9/11-Iraq Link Refuted Days After Attack.” 22 December.’, CAPTION, ‘MSNBC, 12/22/2005’)” onmouseout=”return nd()”>MSNBC, 12/22/2005; <a href="http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=22&art_id=qw1132718768480B226" target="__newwindow" onmouseover="return overlib('Agence France-Presse. 2005. “CIA Found No Links Between Saddam And Osama.” 23 December.’, CAPTION, ‘Agence France-Presse, 12/23/2005’)” onmouseout=”return nd()”>Agence France-Presse, 12/23/2005]