AQ is fighting for their very survival and taking advantage of a temporary situation in Iraq. In that you care correct.
However, AQ and Iraq began working together after the first Gulf War. Hussein's sons mentioned this in their OWN STATE RUN NEWSPAPER some months before the war this year.
Additionally, there is ample evidence of OBL/AQ and Iraq working together. I have links to dozens of articles/books about this subject matter, but have come to understand there are some who do not want to believe in this linkage between the groups. Such is life.
Don't ever give up trying to educate others...
While the Prague meeting has been refuted by some officials, people seem to forget that Farouk Hijazi, an Iraqi intelligence officer met with bin Laden in Kandahar in Dec 1998.
Also forgotten is that in 1998, two of bin Laden’s senior military commanders, Muhammad Abu-Islam and Abdullah Qassim, visited Baghdad for discussions with Qusay Hussein. This and info on other meetings can be found here.
Also in 1998, an Arab intelligence officer, who knows Saddam personally, predicted in Newsweek: "Very soon you will be witnessing large-scale terrorist activity run by the Iraqis." The Arab official said these terror operations would be run under "false flags" --spook-speak for front groups--including bin Laden's organization.
Then there were the predictions by an Iraqi with ties to Iraqi intelligence, Naeem Abd Mulhalhal, in Qusay's own newspaper several weeks before the attacks that stated bin Laden would “demolish the Pentagon after he destroys the White House and ”bin Laden would strike America “on the arm that is already hurting.” (referencing a second IRAQI sponsored attack on the World Trade Center). Another reference to New York was “[bin Laden] will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra everytime he hears his songs.” (e.g., “New York, New York”) which identified New York, New York as a target. Mulhalhal also stated, “The wings of a dove and the bullet are all but one and the same in the heart of a believer." which references an airplane attack.
The Arabic language daily newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabic also cited the cooperation between Iraq, bin Laden and Al December 1998 editorial, which predicted that “President Saddam Hussein, whose country was subjected to a four day air strike, will look for support in taking revenge on the United States and Britain by cooperating with Saudi oppositionist Osama Bin-Laden, whom the United States considers to be the most wanted person in the world.” This info is in the link provided in the para above. How could these people have had foreknowledge without Iraq being involved?
And what about Ramzi Yousef (known to his associates as "Rashid the Iraqi, was convicted of the 1993 WTC bombing and entered the US on an Iraqi passport) and his uncle Khalid Shaikh Mohammed who was the paymaster for bin Laden.
There are just too many things that point to Iraqi involvement, even without the refuted evidence.
No, they did not.
Hussein's sons mentioned this in their OWN STATE RUN NEWSPAPER some months before the war this year.
Look, Hussein's sons could claim that they have lunch with Elvis Presley every Tuesday but you should not take it at face value, even if it were printed black and white in "their OWN STATE RUN NEWSPAPER".
Hey, majority of Americans believe that Iraqis were among the WTC bombers. Are you the part of this majority?