ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 16 - 9/11 Panel Sees No Iraq Al-Qaeda Link.The commission investigating 9/11 says Iraq has no history of collaborating with the Al-Qaeda terrorist network (undermining one of the main arguments used by the Bush administration to justify the overthrow of Saddam's regime). The report says Bin Laden made overtures o·ver·ture n. 1. Music a. An instrumental composition intended especially as an introduction to an extended work, such as an opera or oratorio. b. to Iraq in 1994, apparently requesting space for training camps and help in obtaining weapons; but Iraq "apparently never responded". It adds: "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. Two senior Bin Laden associates have adamantly ad·a·mant adj. Impervious to pleas, appeals, or reason; stubbornly unyielding. See Synonyms at inflexible. n. 1. A stone once believed to be impenetrable in its hardness. 2. An extremely hard substance. denied that any ties existed between Al-Qaeda and Iraq". (One of the key allegations linking the two was intelligence that Mohammed Atta, leader of the 9/11 hijackers, met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague five months before the attacks, which was ruled out by the commission. Atta appears to have been in Florida at the time. The commission's final report, due out next month, is widely expected to criticise Crit´i`cise v. t. 1. To examine and judge as a critic; to pass literary or artistic judgment upon; as, to criticise an author; to criticise a picture s>. [ imp. & p. law enforcement agencies' failure to detect the 9/11 plot, and the response to the attacks). The commission also says Al-Qaeda remains determined to attack the US, using chemical, biological or radiological weapons radiological weapon: see radiation weapon. to inflict mass casualties. (Pres Bush's administration has consistently argued that Baghdad co-operated with Al-Qaeda. Secretary of State Powell cited a "sinister nexus between Iraq and the Al-Qaeda terrorist network" in his presentation before the UN Security Council in February 2003. The White House insisted that the commission's findings did not undermine its arguments). The Director of Communications Director of Communications is a position in the private and public sectors. The Director of Communications is responsible for managing and directing an organization's internal and external communications. Dan Bartlett Daniel Joseph Bartlett (born June 1, 1971), was a Counselor to the President in the U.S. presidential administration of George W. Bush. The position was previously held by Karen Hughes, who vacated the post in 2002. says: "Just because Al-Qaeda and Iraq may not have collaborated in a specific attack on 9/11 does not mean that there's not a relationship or past relationship between Iraq and Al-Qaeda". (Opinion polls in the year before the Iraq war Iraq War: see under Persian Gulf Wars. Iraq War or Second Persian Gulf War Brief conflict in 2003 between Iraq and a combined force of troops largely from the U.S. and Great Britain; and a subsequent U.S. showed more than 50% of Americans believed Saddam was behind 9/11). |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion