In testimony before the 9/11 Commission on July 9, 2003, “A commission member, former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, raised the Iraq-al Qaeda issue with Judith Yaphe, a veteran CIA Iraq expert. Yaphe spoke of the ‘unwillingness of Saddam and Osama to consider cooperation’ and testified that while the Iraqi regime used Islamic extremists, it only used those groups it could control. So she did not think Saddam would work with al Qaeda. ‘I think he saw him as a threat, Osama as a threat, rather than a potential partner.’ ”
– Stephen F. Hayes, The Connection, Pages 183-184