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Pentagon: No link between Saddam & al-Qaeda

Although it probably did not need to have the fact proven - by no lesser authority [?] than the Pentagon - Bloomberg.com reports that no link can be found between Saddam and al-Qaeda:

"A U.S. Defense Department study has concluded that there were no links between the regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaeda terrorist network, ABC News said, quoting unnamed officials.

The report, which ABC said would be released tomorrow by the Defense Department, would contradict statements by Bush administration officials to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 that toppled Hussein's regime.

The Pentagon study said Hussein used terrorist techniques routinely to attack his own people but had no links to al-Qaeda, ABC News reported.

President George W. Bush said the invasion was needed to disarm Hussein of chemical weapons that he said Iraq had amassed. Vice President Dick Cheney linked Hussein to al-Qaeda, saying at a speech in Denver in late 2002 that there was a ``grave danger that al-Qaeda or other terrorists will join with outlaw regimes that have these weapons.'' Cheney also said that Hussein's regime had high-level contacts with al-Qaeda dating back a decade and provided training to terrorists."

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