US President George W. Bush insists Saddam Hussein had a relationship with al-Qaeda but says his administration never asserted the former Iraqi president had a role in the September 11th, 2001, attacks.
"The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al-Qaeda is because there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda," President Bush told reporters.
"This administration never said that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al-Qaeda. We did say there were numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda," he added.
"There were numerous contacts between the two," he said, citing reports of a Sudan meeting between al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Iraqi intelligence officers.
His remarks came a day after the independent commission investigating the September 11th attacks on Washington and New York reported there was no evidence to support claims of a working relationship between Saddam and the militant network blamed for the attacks that killed 3,000 people.