Saddam Hussein was accused of ties to a terrorist group.
Saddam Hussein . In 2003 , a coalition led by the U.S. invaded Iraq to depose Saddam , in which U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair accused him of possessing weapons of mass destruction and having ties to al-Qaeda . Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda link allegations were made by the U.S. government officials who claimed that a highly secretive relationship existed between former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the radical Islamist militant organization Al-Qaeda from 1992 to 2003 , specifically through a series of meetings reportedly involving the Iraqi Intelligence Service ( IIS ) . In the lead up to the Iraq War , U.S. President George W. Bush alleged that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and militant group al-Qaeda might conspire to launch terrorist attacks on the United States , basing the administration 's rationale for war , in part , on this allegation and others .