Al Qaeda isn't in Iraq?

Bloomberg/NY Times:

The Pentagon provided “inappropriate” analysis for its reports of a strong link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, a finding that was cited by the White House as a rationale for invading Iraq, a report by the Pentagon inspector general says.

The declassified report said Defense Department officials “undercut” the intelligence community.

It specifically said that analysts reporting to Douglas Feith, who was the under secretary for policy, told Stephen J. Hadley, the deputy national security adviser at the time, and I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, that there were “fundamental problems with how the intelligence community is assessing information.”

The 121-page report, which had been summarized at a Congressional hearing in February by the acting inspector general, Thomas Gimble, was released Thursday by Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan and the chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

By coincidence, it appeared on the day Vice President Cheney again drew a link between the war and Al Qaeda, telling the radio host Rush Limbaugh that “to advocate withdrawal from Iraq at this point seems to me simply would play right into the hands of Al Qaeda.”

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So is Bloomberg suggesting that al Qaeda in Iraq is not really in Iraq and not in communication with bin Laden and Zawahiri? Are all those media events that they have posted on the internet are just some figment of Doug Feith's imagination? Are they saying the Vice President should not be concerned about the organization that is responsible for most of the civilian deaths in Iraq? Or, are they just toting water of Carl Levin's quest to demonize and cherry pick prewar intelligence.