Regarding the possible Iraq/al Qaeda connection, author Richard Miniter wrote: “Bin Laden’s February 23, 1998, call for jihad lists three grievances: that U.S. warplanes use bases in Saudi Arabia to patrol the skies of Iraq, that United Nations sanctions have caused grievous suffering in Iraq, and that America’s Iraq policy is designed to divert attention from Israel’s treatment of Muslims. In short, bin Laden’s call to arms reads as if it were issued from Baghdad.”
– Richard Miniter, Losing Bin Laden, Pages 237-238