According to a January 9, 2004 article in The New York Times: “Only in January 2004 did Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, long the only member of the Bush cabinet to enjoy the trust of foreign governments, finally acknowledge that he had ‘not seen smoking gun, concrete evidence’ backing up administration assertions and insinuations that Saddam had ties to Al-Qaeda.”
– Jonathan Randal, Osama, Page 268