BRITISH Intelligence officials have expressed doubt that Saddam Hussein established any working relationship with al-Qaeda despite the discovery of documents showing that an “envoy” for Osama bin Laden visited Baghdad in 1998.

The documents were found by The Sunday Telegraph at the bombed-out Baghdad headquarters of the Mukhabarat, Iraq’s Intelligence service, and were hailed yesterday as positive proof of an Iraqi link to al-Qaeda. They mentioned the arrival of a confidant of bin Laden who had travelled to Baghdad from Khartoum in March 1998. Bin Laden was based in Sudan until 1996.

Officials told The Times that there had been intelligence indicators about that time of a possible visit to Baghdad by someone purporting to represent al-Qaeda. There had been no evidence of any follow-up meetings to suggest that Baghdad had forged a long-term partnership with al-Qaeda.

According to The Sunday Telegraph report, the purpose of the March 1998 meeting was to establish a relationship on the basis of Iraq and al-Qaeda’s mutual hatred of the United States and Saudi Arabia. Because of the sensitivity of the meeting, the Iraqi agents who wrote the documents had covered bin Laden’s name with correcting fluid. Once it was removed, the name was visible, the report claimed.

There is pressure on Western Intelligence services to provide governments with their own assessment of the thousands of secret files that were abandoned when Saddam’s regime collapsed.

On the al-Qaeda link to Saddam’s regime, Britain has taken a robust line against the Americans who insist there was a connection. Washington gave the link as one of the reasons for toppling Saddam. Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) has always rejected the idea of a link.

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