This article is a chronological listing of allegations of meetings between members of
al-Qaeda and members of
Saddam Hussein's government, as well as other information relevant to
conspiracy theories involving
Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. Opinions of experts on this subject are that not all of the specific claims about meetings can be substantiated with evidence and that the evidence that does exist leads to the conclusion that no substantial links exist.
In 2003, American terrorism analyst,
Evan Kohlman, said in an interview:<blockquote>While there have been a number of promising intelligence leads hinting at possible meetings between al-Qaeda members and elements of the former
Baghdad regime, nothing has been yet shown demonstrating that these potential contacts were historically any more significant than the same level of communication maintained between
Osama bin Laden and ruling elements in a number of Iraq's
Persian Gulf neighbors, including
Saudi Arabia, Iran,
Yemen, Qatar, and
Kuwait.
In 2006, a report of postwar findings by the
United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence concluded that:
The same report also concluded that:
The result of the publication of the Senate report was the belief that the entire connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda was an official deception based on
cherry picking specific intelligence data that bolstered the case for war with Iraq...
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