Iraq and al-Qaeda 'not linked'

2004-06-16 17:05

Washington - The commission investigating the September 11 attacks reported on Wednesday that Osama bin Laden met with a top Iraqi official in 1994 but that it found "no credible evidence" of a link between Iraq and al-Qaeda in attacks against the United States.

In a report based on research and interviews by the commission staff, the panel said that bin Laden explored possible co-operation with Saddam Hussein even though he opposed the Iraqi leader's secular regime.

A senior Iraqi intelligence official reportedly met with bin Laden in 1994 in Sudan, the panel found, and bin Laden "is said to have requested space to establish training camps, as well as assistance in procuring weapons, but Iraq apparently never responded."

"There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda also occurred after bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan, but they do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship," the report said. "Two senior bin Laden associates have adamantly denied that any ties existed between al-Qaida and Iraq."

Panel's findings a contradiction

The panel's findings appear to contradict Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion on Monday that Saddam had "long-established ties" with al-Qaeda.

In making the case for war in Iraq, officials of President George W Bush's administration frequently cited what they said were Saddam's decade-long contacts with al-Qaeda operatives. They stopped short of claiming that Iraq was directly involved in the September 11 attacks, but critics say Bush officials left that impression with the American public.

The commission's report was released at the beginning of the panel's final two-day hearing on the development of the September 11 plot and the emergency response by the Federal Aviation Administration and US air defences.

"We're going to talk about the evolution of al-Qaeda and how they moved from one type of organization in the late 1980s to a more fast-acting, poisonous organization in the 1990s, more spread out and dispersed," democratic commissioner Timothy Roemer said before the hearing.

"We'll be looking at the timeline as to whether or not we had an opportunity to deflect any of the airliners, and how decisions were made by the highest people in government," he said.

In its report, the commission reiterated an often-repeated warning by the Bush administration, saying al-Qaeda remains poised to attack the United States in a devastating chemical, biological or "dirty bomb" attack.

Since the September 11 attacks, the terror group has become much more dispersed, with less funding, following the arrests or deaths of key financiers. But the group has learned to operate on much smaller sums than the estimated $30 million spent annually prior to September 11 2001, the report said.

- AP