According to the BBC, Donald Rumsfeld, in talking of a link between Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein and the consequent justification for war, cited solid evidence of the presence in Iraq of al-Qaeda members, including some that have been in Baghdad.
I always understood there were quite a number of Al-Qaeda members in the United States, particularly during autumn 2001. By the same token, the United Kingdom has been harbouring Irish terrorists for years.
Cows and stuff