Clark: 'Certainly There's a Connection Between Iraq and al-Qaida'

Wesley Clark spun himself into a tangled web today over a statement he made only 15 months ago: "Certainly there's a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida."

Clark also told reporters in October 2002: "It doesn't surprise me at all that they would be talking to al-Qaida, that there would be some al-Qaida there or that Saddam Hussein might even be, you know, discussing, 'Gee, I wonder since I don't have any scuds, and since the Americans are coming at me, I wonder if I could take advantage of al-Qaida? How would I do it? Is it worth the risk? What could they do for me?'"

The New York Times reported today that the embarrassing statement was captured on videotape.

'Connection,' but 'No Relationship'?!

Campaigning in New Hampshire, Clark insisted today: "It would be naive to think the Iraqi intelligence agency never tracked anyone from al-Qaida, but that's a far cry from saying there's any relationship between Saddam Hussein and 9/11. I've always said there's no relationship. I was doing nothing but explaining a New York Times front-page story of that day and discounting it."

On the day of Clark's 2002 news conference, the Times relayed the CIA's report that al-Qaida leaders had sought contacts in Iraq who could help them acquire weapons of mass destruction.

Clueless

Asked today if he thought contacts still existed between al-Qaida and Iraq, Clark admitted to being clueless.

"My point has been simply this: There wasn't any likelihood that Saddam Hussein was connected to 9/11," he claimed. "It would not surprise me if the Iraqi intelligence agency had sometime met with someone from al-Qaida in Beirut, Lebanon, or somewhere else, just to find out who they were or what they were doing."

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