By: E&P Staff Despite the bipartisan U.S. Senate report, released last Friday, that declared no link between Saddam Hussein and terrorist leader al-Zarqawi in Iraq, several Bush administration officials have continued to suggest the opposite, most recently White House Press Secretary Tony Snow at a briefing today.
The Senate report debunked Iraq/al-Qaeda connections and concluded: "Saddam Hussein attempted, unsuccessfully, to locate and capture al-Zarqawi and?the regime did not have a relationship with, harbor, or turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi." It also stated: "Postwar findings indicate that Saddam Hussein was distrustful of al-Qaeda and viewed Islamic extremists as a threat to his regime, refusing all requests from al-Qaeda to provide material or operational support."
An exchange about that took place at the press briefing today.
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Q Do you believe ? does the president still believe that Saddam Hussein was connected to Zarqawi or Al Qaida before the invasion?
SNOW: The president has never said that there was a direct operational relationship between the two. And this is important. Zarqawi was in Iraq?and there was a relationship in this sense: Zarqawi was in Iraq. Al Qaida members were in Iraq. They were operating, and in some cases operating freely. From Iraq, Zarqawi, for instance, directed the assassination of an American diplomat in Amman, Jordan.
But did they have, you know, a corner office at the Mukhabarat? No. You know, were they getting a line item in Saddam?s budget? No. There was no direct operational relationship, but there was a relationship. They were in the country. And I think you understand that the Iraqis knew they were there. That?s the relationship.
Q: Saddam Hussein knew they were there. That?s it for the relationship?
SNOW: That?s pretty much it.
Q: The Senate report said they didn?t turn a blind eye to that.
SNOW: The Senate report ? rather than get ? you know what? I don?t want to get into the vagaries of the Senate report. But it is pretty clear, among other things, again, that were Al Qaida operators inside Iraq, and they included Zarqawi, they included a cleric who had been described as the best friend of bin Laden who was delivering sermons on TV. But we are simply not going to go to the point that the president ? the president has never made the statement that there was an operational relationship, and that?s the important thing, because I think there?s a tendency to say, Ah-ha. He said that they were in cahoots and they were planning and doing stuff. There?s no evidence of that.
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Another exchange today follows.
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Q. Now, when a Republican leader of Congress says, "I wonder if Democrats are more interested in protecting terrorists than they are in protecting the American people," as a spokesman for the President, do you think that it's your duty to say that that's out of bounds or not?
SNOW: Frankly, again, this is one of these things -- I haven't even seen the Boehner statement. But let me make a larger point. When people call the President a liar or a loser, that happens. There have been all sorts of names and smears aimed at the President. And he understands and he's a big enough boy to deal with that.
The other thing is that in this present political season, unfortunately there will be a lot of -- there's going to be some name-calling. You know what? I think you and I agree. Let's figure out what the substantive issues are, let's get past the name-calling, and let's get down to it and let's talk about it...
Q Do Democrats want to protect terrorists more than the American people? What do you think?
MR. SNOW: Again, I know you think that in the last hour -- I had an hour to prepare, because we had long meetings --
Q I'm asking you that question -- forget about what John Boehner said, I'm putting the proposition to you. Do you have an opinion on that topic?
MR. SNOW: Do I think -- no, I think --
Q That Democrats are more interested in protecting terrorists than the American people?
MR. SNOW: No.
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