President Bush lied about Saddam and al-Qaida being "allies"

President Bush lied about Saddam and al-Qaida being "allies"

"The President's decision to ignore intelligence community assessments
prior to the Iraq war and to make repeated public statements that gave
the misleading impression that Saddam Hussein's regime was
connected to the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 cost him any
credibility he may have had on this issue.
President Bush said Saddam and al-Qaida were allies--his words. And
that: "You can't distinguish between al-Qaida and Saddam when you
talk about the war on terror."

The bipartisan report released today directly contradicts that
linkage which the President has consistently made in his effort to
build public support for his Iraq policy.
The bipartisan committee report finds that the prewar intelligence
assessments were right when the intelligence community said Saddam and
al-Qaida were independent actors who were far from being natural
partners. The report finds that prewar intelligence assessments were
right when they expressed consistent doubts that a meeting occurred
between 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta and a senior Iraqi intelligence
official in Prague prior to September 11. Our report finds that prewar
intelligence assessments were right when they said there was no
credible reporting on al-Qaida operatives being trained in Iraq. Those
were the two principal arguments which were used prior to the war to
support the alleged linkage between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein.
The accurate prewar intelligence assessments didn't stop the
administration from making many false and misleading statements trying
to link Saddam Hussein with al-Qaida." - INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE PHASE II REPORT