July 2003: CIA Claims There Was ‘Steady and Heavy’ Pressure to Find Al-Qaeda-Iraq Link before 2003 Iraq War

In a classified report, the CIA states: “Requests for reporting and analysis of [Iraq’s link to al-Qaeda] were steady and heavy in the period leading up to the war, creating significant pressure on the Intelligence Community to find evidence that supported a connection.” This comment will not be publicly mentioned until September 2006, in a media leak of still classified material. [Newsweek, 9/13/2006]