Gephardt: *Lots Of* Intelligence Ties Iraq to Al-Qaeda
http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/10/6/102835 House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., said Sunday that he*d seen "lots of intelligence" that ties Saddam Hussein*s regime in Baghdad to Osama bin Laden*s al-Qaeda terrorist network.
"There*s lots of intelligence and it*s additive as you go along, of meetings between Iraqi military and intelligence officials and members of al-Qaeda," the top House Democrat told ABC*s "This Week."
Though Gephardt sounded convinced of the Iraq-al-Qaeda terror links, he cautioned, *"There*s no smoking gun. I don*t think you*ll have one. If we*d had a smoking gun on 9/11 we would have done something about it."
The House leader, who broke ranks with fellow congressional Democrats last week to support President Bush*s policy of preemptive action against Iraq, explained, "Your standard of proof of what you*re looking for here has to go down, given that we live in a world of terrorists and terrorism."
Saying that he feared Baghdad would share its biological, chemical and nuclear technology with groups like al-Qaeda, Gephardt warned, "We have to prevent a weapon of mass destruction from being detonated in the United States - we have to do everything in our power to avoid that."
http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/10/6/102835