Tom Harkin: “Well, I have read about them and heard about them--that there may be some people in and out, or some who may have come…”

“Well, I have read about them and heard about them--that there may be some people in and out, or some who may have come in. The most I have heard is the one I think the Senator is talking about, but I think he came there to get his leg fixed or something. No doubt he was well connected with al-Qaida. But I say to my friend from Utah, the Government of Iraq said they cannot find this guy. Well, our people have said it is ridiculous; of course, you can find him. Well, we cannot find Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. We have more spy satellites and listening equipment than Iraq ever dreamed of having. I don't know whether this guy is there or not. There have been some in and out of Iraq. Again, it is very tenuous as to whether or not there are any connections. I am sure the Senator from Utah also knows that there has been a longstanding feud between Osama bin Laden and his fundamentalists and the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein. I say a pox on both their houses. But the fact is, in the eyes of Osama bin Laden and those fundamentalists, Saddam Hussein is a secular leader, not a true Islamist. What they have always wanted was to get rid of Saddam Hussein to put in power a religious government in Iraq. So there never has been, in all the briefings I have ever had, any love lost between Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaida network. They just have different ideologies and a different way of approaching how they should govern.”