The latest Harris Poll (hat tip Ray Robison) has some interesting results on public opinions of Saddam Hussein's possible links to al Qaeda.

Of those Americans polled, 64% agree that Saddam Hussein had "strong" links to al Qaeda.

Hussein's latest claim of innocence (below) is not convincing the American public opinion, as the percentage of Americans who believe the two groups had "strong" links has remained fairly steady for over a year.

In Saddam Hussein's latest letter to the American people, he urges U.S. withdrawal from Iraq because of his professed innocence on a number of issues.

In the letter Hussein claims Iraq did "not have any ties to so-called terrorism." Of course Hussein's Iraq certainly had extensive ties to terrorism and thus had been listed on the State Department's annual list of State Sponsors of Terrorism for over a decade.

Hussein further noted that "no Iraqi took part in the events of 11 September!?" The nationality of those who carried out the 9-11 attacks is a matter of public record and the need for revamped post 9-11 security measures was cited far more often than the accusation that Hussein directed or took part in the 9-11 attacks.

Hussein acknowledged that Iraq was one of few countries not to offer condolensces to the U.S. post 9-11. (In fact Iraq's state-run media praised the attacks) His latest reasoning for not sending a letter of condolence regarding the attacks was because "American planes were striking targets in Iraq and destroying public and private property," referencing the American pilots enforcing the U.N. mandated no-fly zones in Iraq.

Despite many of his own representatives indicating cooperation between the two sides took place Saddam has long denied the charge that he was linked to al Qaeda.

If we had a relationship with Al-Qaida and we believed in that relationship we wouldn't be ashamed to admit it. Therefore I would like to tell you directly and also through you to anyone who is interested to know that we have no relationship with Al Qaeda.

The reasoning behind the conditional of "(if) we believed in that relationship we wouldn't be ashamed to admit it" is uncertain. If there was no relationship to speak of why condition the circumstances in which it would be admitted? Hussein may have also been letting Benn know that he was in charge of the interview and would only reveal information that he felt like revealing or he could have just been lying.

Is this the basis of the anxiety in the minds of U.S. officials? Or is it the basis of anxiety in the minds of the people of the United States? ... This issue, this topic did not appear…amongst the concerns of U.S. officials until - that is, about any relationship between Iraq and Osama bin Laden -- until recently.

The notion that U.S. officials had not expressed concern about a possible relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda until shortly before the war is not true and certainly Saddam Hussein was aware of this.

The Clinton administration's concern about links between the two sides was widely reported and discussed in 1998 and 1999 in both the domestic and international media. Air strikes on the Sudanese pharmaceutical plant al-Shifa were justified, in part, by the dangers of a deadly WMD nexus between Sudan, Iraq and al Qaeda.

Saddam Hussein's testimony regarding his links to al Qaeda and other terrorists, via letter and interviews, continues to be interesting reading but his history of dishonesty and deception indicate that his word on such matters is of little value in terms of discovering the truth.