- The commission investigating the 11 September 2001 attacks
on the US has found no "credible evidence" that Iraq helped al-Qaeda
carry them out.
-
- The statement was published before the bipartisan commission
began the final two-day public session.
-
- It said Iraq "never responded" to Osama Bin
Laden's requests to set up training camps and for help in buying weapons.
-
- On Monday, US Vice-President Dick Cheney said that Saddam
Hussein had "long-established ties" with al-Qaeda.
-
- A final report on the commission's findings is due on
28 July.
-
- The 11 September attacks killed nearly 3,000 people after
members of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network flew hijacked planes into
New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
-
- Bin Laden spurned
-
- The statement prepared by the commission staff contained
"initial findings to present to the public on the nature of the enemy
that carried out the 11 September attacks".
-
- Outlining the roots of al-Qaeda and its activities, it
said Osama Bin Laden had explored the possibility of co-operation with
Iraq, despite his opposition to Saddam Hussein's secular regime.
-
- It said a senior Iraqi intelligence officer had met Bin
Laden in 1994 to hear his requests for space to establish training camps
and assistance in procuring weapons.
-
- "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 statement says, adding: "Two senior Bin Laden associates have
adamantly denied that any ties existed between al-Qaeda and Iraq."
-
- The panel concludes: "We have no credible evidence
that Iraq and al-Qaeda co-operated on attacks against the United States."
-
- Closing circle
-
- This is the 12th time the commission has heard from witnesses
in public.
-
- The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the
United States said Wednesday's session would hear from several of the federal
government's top law enforcement and intelligence experts on al-Qaeda and
the 11 September plot.
-
- On Thursday, top military and civilian aviation officials
- including General Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- will testify about their agencies' responses to the attacks.
-
- In this final session, commissioners will be attempting
to fill in the gaps in the timeline of events before and after the attacks,
says the BBC's Daniel Lak in Washington.
-
- Mr Myers' appearance on Thursday will be his second before
the commission.
-
- "At this, the commission's final public hearing,
we will attempt to close the circle," said commission chairman Thomas
Kean.
-
- "We will look back to the roots and growth of al-Qaeda,
its previous attacks on the United States, its financing and international
support, and how it plotted such detailed and intricate attacks on our
soil."
-
- "The commission will then turn again to the day
of 11 September 2001, to examine how the federal government learned of
and responded to the attacks.
-
- "The commission has to ask some important questions
about that day," said vice-chairman Lee Hamilton.
-
- "What was federal government protocol for responding
to attacks of the kind we experienced on 11 September? How well did our
government respond that day? How is the federal government now prepared
to respond, in the event of future attacks?"
-
- Among some of the commission's preliminary findings,
is a report that the hijackers may have planned their attack for some months
earlier than September, but postponed it after one of them was unable to
take part.
-
- In April, commission members spoke in private to President
George W Bush and Mr Cheney.
-
- © BBC MMIV
-
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3812351.stm
|
