Area was beyond Saddam Hussein's control thanks to Western-enforced no-fly zones.
The suggestion being that Hussein and Ansar al-Islam were antithetical to one another. However, Hussein was supporting the group and they cooperated with him by attacking the Kurds. See The Great Terror, by Jeffrey Goldberg, for the New Yorker.
U.S. officials say some regrouped and linked up with Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi for attacks.
When Zarqawi escaped Afghanistan, he went to Iraq and joined up with Ansar al-Islam -- in December, 2001!
Don't AP researchers have the knowledge (or gumption) to use Google? Or come to Free Republic and let us do their research for them?
AP - The Dis-Associated Press -- doesn't that say it all? The MSM spends as much time throwing out "what if" news as it does supporting the left.
The degenerate MSM. Take it for what it is worth -- nothing.