Saddam was probing reports of al-Qaida in Iraq

IRAQI documents collected by US intelligence show that Saddam Hussein’s regime was investigating reports of al-Qaida activity in the country.

The US Government said one showed that Iraqi intelligence officials suspected al-Qaida members were inside Iraq in 2002 and others suggested that Iraqis and Saudis were heading to Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks to fight US troops.

A letter from an Iraqi intelligence official, dated August 17, 2002, asked agents in the country to be on the lookout for terror chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and another unnamed man, whose picture was attached.