What I did not ping you to is that there is no doubt, even in the 9/11 Commission's mind, that he is an Iraqi national. The Commission did not have more information than this, but thought that Stephen Haynes fleshed out his identity quite well.
(NOTICE: The 9/11 Commission Report released July 22 contradicts the speculation about Shakir's identity. Buried in Footnote 49 of Ch. 6:
Commission Report: Mihdhar was met at the Kuala Lumpur airport by Ahmad Hikmat Shakir, an Iraqi national. Reports that he was a lieutenant colonel in the Iraqi Fedayeen have turned out to be incorrect. They were based on a confusion of Shakir's identity with that of an Iraqi Fedayeen colonel with a similar name, who was later (in September 2001) in Iraq at the same time Shakir was in police custody in Qatar.)
I'm sorry Peach, I don't understand what you are trying to say here. Where is the portion of the 9/11 report that states that even an Iraqi national was, indeed, at a 9/11 planning meeting? I simply have not see that text.
I think that the links between Iraq and al-qaeda are multitudinous. (***OBVIOUS NOTE: I did not say anything about 9/11 in the previous sentence***)
I simply have not seen any credible evidence that Iraq knew about or participated in ANY way with the actual 9/11 attacks. If there is such evidence, that would be one hell of an October surprise (if it wasn't easily brushed aside because it was not vetted).
Having said that... I still don't think anyone in the administration has justified our action in Iraq as a direct retaliation for 9/11... in fact, they have made clear that they are not aware of any such link.