Blair 'didn't talk up al Qaida link'

Tony Blair denies "talking up" links between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden's al Qaida network in order to strengthen the case for war against Iraq.

The Prime Minister told MPs that links between Iraq and al Qaida "unquestionably" did exist.

But he said the case for any military action rested on Saddam's refusal to give up his nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programmes in defiance of the United Nations.

His comments followed the leak of a Top Secret British intelligence document suggesting that any relationship between al Qaida and Iraq had "foundered" amid mutual distrust and ideological differences.

Mr Blair said the report, which was obtained by BBC Radio 4's Today programme, had not primarily been about al Qaida and Iraq.

And he said that he stood by his previous statements linking the terrorist network with the Baghdad regime.

"There are unquestionably links between al Qaida and Iraq. It is a matter of speculation, obviously, how far those links go," he told the Commons at Prime Minister's Questions.

He insisted that he had never tried to "talk up" the al Qaida connection and had simply been responding to questions.

"We do not rest our case against Saddam and Iraq on the basis of links with al Qaida," he said.

"I do not think it is fair to suggest that we are trying to push this in some way as a cover for any lack of argument on weapons of mass destruction."

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