Well, I kind of mis-spoke. I personally don't see it as collateral damage, but bin Laden does. He isn't attacking Americans, per se; he is attacking Americanism and Western ideology. That's why he chose the targets he did. If it was simply a matter of American body count he could have chosen far worse targets. Disney World at spring break for instance.

His targets were political. He was making a statement and 3000 people died in the process. In his mind that's simply collateral damage.

In your referenced article, that part about Cheney on "Meet the Press" describes where the administration believes the connection between Iraq and al Queda exists. You'll notice it also says that most in the intelligence community doubt that belief.

From everything I've read is that bin Laden hates Saddam because of his secular ways. Bin Laden is an extreme fundamentalist and Saddam only invokes religion when it benefits his cause.

If Bush was truly concerned with attacking those responsible for providing aid to terrorists we would be invading Saudi Arabia right now. We already have documentation of the Saudi royal family giving money to bin Laden, and today we learn they're supporting Hamas as well.