Contrary to assertations before the invasion of Iraq, a CIA investigation has found no conclusive proof yet that ousted leader Saddam Hussein harbored
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The report is still considered preliminary at this point, and the investigation is still ongoing.
Reuters
The CIA report concludes Zarqawi was in and out of Baghdad, but cast doubt on reports that Zarqawi had been given official approval for medical
treatment there as President Bush said this summer, ABC said.
Earlier on Tuesday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan reasserted that there was a relationship between Saddam and Zarqawi.
"He was in contact from Baghdad with Ansar al-Islam in the northeastern part of Iraq. He had a cell operating from Baghdad during that period, as
well. So there are clearly ties between Iraq and -- between the regime, Saddam Hussein's regime and al Qaeda," McClellan told reporters.
Before last year's invasion to topple Saddam, the Bush administration portrayed Zarqawi as al Qaeda's link to Baghdad.
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al-Zarqawi and his Tawhid and Jihad group are believed to be behind the post-invasion spate of suicide bombings and beheadings in Iraq, and evidence
links him to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network.