Bush mixes Saddam, Osama

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush did for just one second what critics have accused him of doing for two years: Mixing up terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and ousted Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein.

"In the late 1990s, our government was following Osama bin Laden because he was using a certain type of telephone. And then the fact that we were following Osama bin Laden because he was using a certain type of telephone made it into the press as the result of a leak," he said.

"And guess what happened? Saddam -- Osama bin Laden changed his behavior. He began to change how he communicated. We're at war. And we must protect America's secrets," Bush said during a year's end press conference.

The US president has drawn fire for accusing Saddam's regime prior to the March 2003 invasion of having close ties with bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, which carried out the September 11 terrorist attacks. No collaborative links have been found.

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