Exhaustive review sponsored by the Pentagon finds NO link between Saddam, al Qaida

LSSpam said
No. It's not. It's the adjective form of the word "operation". "I'm going to conduct an operation" "Is your unit operational to do so?" "Yes sir"

I'd buy that except that they took a direct quote from a Pentagon report, which used the words "no direct operational link."

In this context, from a a Pentagon report, it's likely that they meant the DOD meaning of the term. What's illogical about that?

The case you cite is a unit-level example. Exactly correct...for unit level, not for an overall report on the captured documents of an entire nation.