"Saddam Hussein has long-standing, direct and continuing ties to terrorist networks," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "Senior members of Iraqi intelligence and al-Qaeda have met at least eight times since the early 1990s."

He said "one of the greatest dangers we face" is that weapons of mass destruction might be passed to terrorists who would not hesitate to use them. "Iraq has sent bomb-making and document forgery experts to work with al-Qaeda."

"Iraq has also provided al-Qaeda with chemical and biological weapons training," Bush said. "An al-Qaeda operative was sent to Iraq several times in the late 1990s for help in acquiring poisons and gases."

"We also know that Iraq is harboring a terrorist network headed by a senior al-Qaeda terrorist planner. This network runs a poison and explosive training camp in northeast Iraq, and many of its leaders are known to be in Baghdad," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency February 9, 2003)