According to the National Intelligence Estimate of October 1, 2002: “The only situation in which Saddam might take the ‘extreme step’ of assisting an Islamic terrorist group like Al Qaeda in attacking the United States would be one in which Saddam had been cornered and felt the United States was on the verge of upending his regime. In essence, the document implied that not only was preemption unnecessary in the case of Iraq but could backfire and bring about the very disaster it was intended to avert: the provision of WMD by Saddam to terrorists who sought to destroy America.”
– Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor, Cobra II, Page 148