Counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke recalled being in the Situation Room on the evening of September 12, 2001, when President Bush approached him. ” ‘Look, I know you have a lot to do and all,’ the president said, according to Clarke’s account. ‘But I want you, as soon as you can, to go back over everything, everything. See if Saddam did this. See if he’s linked in any way.’ Clarke said he told the president that the issue had already been researched extensively and there was no evidence of a close working tie between Iraq and al-Qaeda. That was not what Bush wanted to hear, Clarke said. ‘Look into Iraq, Saddam,’ the president repeated testily before walking away.”
– Philip Shenon, The Commission, Page 198