Michael Scheuer, a former covert CIA agent and first head of the CIA's 'bin Laden unit' was on Hardball last night with Chris Matthews. When prodded by Matthews, Scheuer claimed that we'd all be better off with Saddam Hussein back in power.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Just to think outside the box here, would we be better off with Saddam Hussein still running tyrannically that country... If Iraq right next door to Jordan, would Jordan be more secure in that environment?

MICHAEL SCHEUER: No doubt about it sir.

MATTHEWS: No doubt?

SCHEUER: There would be many more dead.. many fewer dead Americans and we would have many more resources available to annihilate al-Qaeda which is what we have to do. Without a doubt in the war against al-Qaeda Saddam Hussein was one of our best allies.

Yes, he actually said that "without a doubt in the war against al-Qaeda Saddam Hussein was one of our best allies." The problem is that just a few years ago, Michael Scheuer wrote this:

Regarding Iraq, bin Laden, as noted was in contact with Baghdad's intelligence service since at least 1994. He reportedly cooperated with it in the area of chemical-biological-radiological-nuclear (CBRN) weapons and may have trained some fighters in Iraq at camps run by Saddam's anti-Iran force, the Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK). The first group of bin Laden's fighters is reported to have been sent to the MEK camps in June 1998; MEK cadre also were then providing technical and military training for Taliban forces and running the Taliban's anti-Iran propaganda.

Other laboratory and production facilities available to bin Laden are reported in the Khowst and Jalalabad areas, and in the Khartoum suburb of Kubar. The latter facility is said to be a "new chemical and bacteriological factory" cooperatively built by Sudan, bin Laden, and Iraq, and may be one of several in Sudan. In January 1999, Al-Watan Al-Arabi reported that by late 1998, "Iraq, Sudan, and bin Laden were cooperating and coordinating in the field of chemical weapons." The reports say that several chemical factories were built in Sudan. They were financed by bin Laden and supervised by Iraqi experts.