The Hindu : International : Rumsfeld says proof lacking for Saddam, Al-Qaeda link

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Wednesday, Oct 06, 2004

International

International

Rumsfeld says proof lacking for Saddam, Al-Qaeda link

By Thom Shanker— New York Times News Service

WASHINGTON, OCT. 5. The U.S. Defence Secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld, said on Monday that he had seen no ``strong, hard evidence'' linking Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda, although he tempered his comment by noting that stark disagreements on that issue remained among American intelligence analysts.

``I have seen the answer to that question migrate in the intelligence community over the period of a year in the most amazing way,'' Mr. Rumsfeld said when asked about ties between Mr. Hussein and the terror network run by Osama bin Laden. Senior administration officials cited the existence of ties between them as a rationale for war on Iraq.

``Second, there are differences in the intelligence community as to what the relationship was,'' Mr. Rumsfeld said at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. ``To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two.''

Relationships among terrorists and terrorist networks are complicated to track, Mr. Rumsfeld said, because ``in many cases, they cooperate not in a chain of command but in a loose affiliation, a franchising arrangement almost.''

He said that even Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born terrorist leader blamed for attacks inside Iraq since the end of major combat operations, probably had no formal allegiance to Osama.

Musharraf defended

Mr. Rumsfeld also made an impassioned defence of the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, for his actions in support of the military effort to topple the Taliban in Afghanistan and for serving as a voice of moderation in the Muslim world.

In particular, Mr. Rumsfeld said, the Pakistan leader should not be criticised for pardoning Abdul Qadeer Khan, the former head of Pakistan's nuclear laboratories who operated a secret network to sell nuclear equipment and skill abroad.

Gen. Musharraf had a choice, Mr. Rumsfeld said: "He could have killed him, he could have thrown him in a cell someplace. What did he do? I think he put him in house arrest. He has stopped his freelancing, and the world is an awful lot better off."

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