Ex-president Bill Clinton said Thursday that he never saw any link between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, though a 1998 indictment of bin Laden issued by his Justice Department specifically cites such a connection.
Asked what he thought about the Iraq-al-Qaida connection, Clinton told NBC "Today" show host Katie Couric, "All I can tell you is I never saw it."
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While the ex-president said that the Bush administration "may have evidence I don't have," he made no mention of his administration's bin Laden indictment, which stated in its fourth paragraph:
"Al Qaida reached an understanding with the government of
Iraq that al Qaida would not work against that government and that on
particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al
Qaida would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq."
Clinton's comments to "Today" also put him at odds with his wife, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, who noted the Iraq-al-Qaida connection in her Oct. 10, 2002, Senate speech explaining her support for the Iraq war resolution:
"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaida members."
In the past, Clinton national security adviser Sandy Berger has tried to justify the August 1998 cruise missile attacks on a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan by claiming the plant was manufacturing VX gas with the help of Iraqi scientists.
Couric did not ask Clinton about the contradictions.
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