On June 17, 2004, The New York Times headline declared: ” ‘Panel Finds No Qaeda-Iraq Tie.’ ” That same day, when President Bush was asked about the article, he said: ” ‘The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al Qaeda is because there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda. We did say there were numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. For example, Iraqi intelligence officers met with Bin Ladin, the head of al Qaeda, in the Sudan. There’s numerous contacts between the two.’ ”
– Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, Without Precedent, Page 248