Extraordinary comments by Donald Rumsfeld -- and even more extraordinary, he has now denied them. As the Telegraph reports, Rumsfeld suddenly told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York that there was no hard evidence linking Saddam to al Qaeda:

'Mr Rumsfeld told the group: "I have seen the answer to that question migrate in the intelligence community over a period of a year in the most amazing way. Second, there are differences in the intelligence community as to what the relationship was. "To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two," he added.'

Now this was pretty remarkable stuff, since Rumsfeld had previously said there were indeed links between Saddam and al Qaeda. And as readers of this website will know from many previous posts, there is copious evidence washing around from the intelligence services to that end, although it remains controversial within those services. Indeed, so remarkable was it that within a short time as CNSNews.com reports (but the Telegraph does not), Rumsfeld said he had been 'misunderstood':

'Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he was "misunderstood" on Monday, when he answered a question about al Qaeda-Iraq ties at an appearance before the Council on Foreign Relations. "I have acknowledged since September 2002 that there were ties between Al Qaeda and Iraq," Rumsfeld said in a clarification on the Defense Department website. "This assessment was based upon points provided to me by then CIA Director George Tenet to describe the CIA's understanding of the Al Qaeda-Iraq relationship."

'Rumsfeld said he can only tell people what the CIA tells him: And he said the CIA has concluded the following:
-- We do have solid evidence of the presence in Iraq of al Qaeda members, including some that have been in Baghdad.
-- We have what we consider to be very reliable reporting of senior level contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda going back a decade, and of possible chemical and biological agent training.
-- We have what we believe to be credible information that Iraq and al Qaeda have discussed safe haven opportunities in Iraq.
-- We have what we consider to be credible evidence that al Qaeda leaders have sought contacts in Iraq who could help them acquire weapons of mass destruction capabilities.
-- We do have one report indicating that Iraq provided unspecified training relating to chemical and/or biological matters for al Qaeda members. "I should also note that the 9/11 Commission report described linkages between Al Qaeda and Iraq as well," Rumsfeld said in the statement.'

Quite so. So what on earth is going on? One can only speculate at the power politics, rows or faction-fighting that may be continuing to rage within the administration and which may have resulted in such a very strange statement and retraction by a man who may realise he is be being lined up as the fall-guy for the mistakes made by the US in Iraq.

But now look at this, also reported on CNSNews.com:

'Iraqi intelligence documents, confiscated by U.S. forces and obtained by CNSNews.com, show numerous efforts by Saddam Hussein's regime to work with some of the world's most notorious terror organizations, including al Qaeda, to target Americans. They demonstrate that Saddam's government possessed mustard gas and anthrax, both considered weapons of mass destruction, in the summer of 2000, during the period in which United Nations weapons inspectors were not present in Iraq. And the papers show that Iraq trained dozens of terrorists inside its borders.

'One of the Iraqi memos contains an order from Saddam for his intelligence service to support terrorist attacks against Americans in Somalia. The memo was written nine months before U.S. Army Rangers were ambushed in Mogadishu by forces loyal to a warlord with alleged ties to al Qaeda. Other memos provide a list of terrorist groups with whom Iraq had relationships and considered available for terror operations against the United States. Among the organizations mentioned are those affiliated with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Ayman al-Zawahiri, two of the world's most wanted terrorists. Zarqawi is believed responsible for the kidnapping and beheading of several American civilians in Iraq and claimed responsibility for a series of deadly bombings in Iraq Sept. 30. Al-Zawahiri is the top lieutenant of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, allegedly helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist strikes on the U.S., and is believed to be the voice on an audio tape broadcast by Al-Jazeera television Oct. 1, calling for attacks on U.S. and British interests everywhere.'

The memos allegedly contain details such as these:

'They detail the Iraqi regime's purchase of five kilograms of mustard gas on Aug. 21, 2000 and three vials of malignant pustule, another term for anthrax, on Sept. 6, 2000. The purchase order for the mustard gas includes gas masks, filters and rubber gloves. The order for the anthrax includes sterilization and decontamination equipment. (See Saddam's Possession of Mustard Gas). The documents show that Iraqi intelligence received the mustard gas and anthrax from "Saddam's company," which Tefft [a retired intelligence officer] said was probably a reference to Saddam General Establishment, "a complex of factories involved with, amongst other things, precision optics, missile, and artillery fabrication."

"Iraq had an ongoing biological warfare project continuing through the period when the UNSCOM inspections ended," the senior government official and source of the documents said. "This should cause us to redouble our efforts to find the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction programs."

Well, is this true? Are these documents kosher? We don't yet know. Watch this space.