For a complete discussion of connections between Saddam and Al Qaeda, see the Wikipedia article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein_and_al-Qaeda
As a pre-emptive strike to your calling this "leftist media propaganda," note that the article has links to all the claims it makes.
I must confess, I have not read the entire article. I don't think I need to. I know what it says:
"The CIA's report on Iraq's ties to terrorism noted in September 2002 that the CIA did not have "credible intelligence reporting" of operational collaboration between Iraq and al-Qaeda."