Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said, in August 2002: ” ‘If you’re asking, are there al-Qaeda in Iraq, the answer is yes, there are. It’s a fact, yes.’ “ [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Andrew Wander and Gregg Carlstrom, “Files Chart al-Qaeda’s Rise in Iraq,” Al Jazeera, Oct. 26, 2010