Clinton Indictment Cited Iraq-bin Laden Link

Though Democrats and most reporters insist there's no operational link between al-Qaida and Iraq, the Clinton Justice Department specifically cited such an alliance when it indicted the 9/11 mastermind six years ago, Weekly Standard reporter Stephen Hayes said Sunday.

"The Clinton administration, in a sealed indictment of Osama bin Laden in the spring of 1998, included very prominently, in the fourth paragraph, a discussion of this agreement," Hayes told WABC Radio's Monica Crowley.

"They called it an understanding between Iraq and al-Qaida, whereby al-Qaida agreed not to agitate against the Iraqi regime," Hayes said. "In exchange the Iraqi regime agreed to supply assistance on weapons development."

Since the outbreak of the Iraq war, numerous Clinton administration officials have argued there was no link between Iraq and al-Qaida.

But in his book "The Connection," Hayes details the portion of the Clinton administration's bin Laden indictment that contradicts those claims, then notes:

"The fact remains that six senior Clinton administration national security officials are on the record defending [the Aug. 20, 1998 strike against Sudan], citing an Iraqi connection."

Editor's note: