US: Comments by US Secretary of State Mr Donald Rumsfeld and the former US administrator in Iraq, Mr Paul Bremer, have raised new questions about the Bush administration's war in Iraq.
Mr Rumsfeld acknowledged on Tuesday in New York that there was no "strong, hard evidence" linking al-Qaeda with Saddam Hussein, though he added that the point was still disputed in the intelligence community. He later said his comments were misunderstood.
Vice President Dick Cheney, who debated with Senator John Edwards last night in Cleveland, Ohio, has consistently made the connection to justify war against Saddam Hussein.
Mr Rumsfeld's remark contradicts his own statement in September 2002 that "there is no question but that there have been interactions between the Iraqi government, Iraqi officials and al-Qaeda operatives."
Mr Bremer, who governed Iraq after the invasion, said that Washington made two major mistakes, not deploying enough troops and then not containing the violence and looting.
"We paid a big price for not stopping it because it established an atmosphere of lawlessness," Mr Bremer said in a speech in West Virginia meant to be off-the-record, adding, "We never had enough troops on the ground."
Democratic challenger Sentaor John Kerry has strongly criticised the failure of the administration, in particular Mr Rumsfeld and Mr Cheney, to plan adequately for post-invasion Iraq.
Before the war the former army chief of staff, Gen Eric Shinseki, said publicly that he thought the invasion plan lacked sufficient manpower.
He was forced to retire prematurely by Mr Rumsfeld, who, in April 2003, dismissed reports of widespread looting and chaos as "untidy".
In another private speech on September 17th, reported by an Indiana newspaper, Mr Bremer said he "should have been even more insistent" when his advice was ignored and that "the single most important change...that would have improved the situation would have been having more troops in Iraq at the beginning and throughout" the occupation.
A defence department official denied that Mr Bremer had asked for more troops until his last two weeks in Iraq.
The comments of Mr Rumsfeld and Mr Bremer provided fresh ammunition to Democrats on the eve of the running-mate debate, which is expected to focus on Mr Cheney's role as an architect of the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
Mr Kerry yesterday accused the Vice President of "being responsible behind the scenes" for the troop level decision.
"Saddam Hussein was not connected to al-Qaeda," he told reporters. "Iraq was a diversion from the real war on terrorism and that has made America less safe. I hope tonight Mr Cheney can acknowledge those mistakes."
In Cleveland yesterday Senator Edwards said he and Mr Cheney didn't share the same view of the world - "and that's a good thing".