One of the reasons, IMHO, that the Bushies have failed to articulate this connection is that whenever they do, CYA analysts leak stories that there was no connection, the intelligence is bogus, etc, etc. For example: Czech intelligence reported that Atta met with IIS in Prague. The Czechs have never doubted that this meeting took place, and have never retracted the story. Yet, every time the thing pops up, out comes some anonymous source at CYA who says, "Czech intelligence has said this never happened." In response to the most recent leak/lie, the Czech President himself said, "they keep saying we've repudiated this meeting. It isn't true. We believe it happened."
There is a war going on between Bush and the State Department/CYA. Unfortunately, this is one war Bush is either not willing to fight, or not aware that he's fighting. It's time to dismantle the CYA once and for all, and turn foreign intelligence back over to the military. Military people have a culture, tradition, and genuine understanding of why they must be subordinate to a civilian authority in a free country. The CYA doesn't understand that they're supposed to answer to the Commander-in-Chief.
Finally, people keep focusing on connections between al-Q and Iraq, as if bin Laden is the only enemy we have. Bush stated the dimensions of this fight: it is a war against terrorism with global reach, and countries which harbor those kinds of terrorists are our ENEMIES. Iraq not only sponsored bin Laden, but many other terrorist organizations as well. But most importantly, the Iraqi Intelligence Service was a terrorist organization in its own right. Its global reach was undoubted. It had already planned and promised (and may have executed) terror strikes against the United States. So, there is no need to connect Saddam to al-Q. He had his own personal terrorist organization already.
Excellent point. And Bush's policy is based on the belief (a justified belief) that by taking out or checking the state sponsors of terrorism, terrorist organizations like AQ will fall apart.