Thomas Kean, chairman of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, reiterated Sunday that the inquiry had turned up no evidence that Iraq or its former president, Saddam Hussein, had taken part "in any way in attacks on the United States."
But Kean said that conclusion, made public last week, did not put the commission at odds with contentions by the administration of US President George W. Bush that links existed between the terrorist group al-Qaeda and Iraq.
In an interview on the ABC News program This Week, Kean said: "All of us understand that when you begin to use words like `relationship' and `ties' and `connections' and `contacts,' everybody has a little different definition with regard to those statements."
At the same time, Kean said: "We believe ... that there were a lot more active contacts, frankly, with Iran and with Pakistan than there were with Iraq.
"Al-Qaeda didn't like to get involved with states, unless they were living there. They got involved with Sudan, they got involved ... where they lived, but otherwise no,'' Kean told ABC television.
US Vice President Dick Cheney said in an interview on Friday that "the evidence is overwhelming" of a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda. Asked if he had information that the commission did not have, he replied, "Probably."
Kean said Sunday that if such information exists, "we need it -- and we need it pretty fast."
The panel concluded its public hearings last week and will now turn to writing its final report, due late next month. Kean added that the administration had been cooperative in providing material that the commission had requested during its 18-month investigation.
Cheney's statements, and the broader question of whether the commission and the administration were at odds, came up repeatedly as commission members and others made the rounds of the Sunday morning talk shows.
"I find it, frankly, shocking that the exaggerations of the administration before the war relative to that connection continue to this day," Senator Carl Levin said on the CNN program Late Edition.
Senator John McCain, appearing on the CBS News program Face the Nation, said he had "no doubt that there was communications, meetings, connections" between terrorist groups including al-Qaeda and the Iraqi government, though not necessarily in connection with Sept. 11. Asked if the administration should turn over the additional information that the vice president talked about, he said he saw "no reason why not."
Meanwhile, another member of the Sept. 11 commission predicted the panel would support centralization of the nation's intelligence agencies as the only way to prevent future terrorist attacks.
"You're going to see unanimous recommendations on the intelligence community ... They couldn't distinguish between a bicycle crash and a train wreck," commissioner John Lehman said Sunday in previewing a final report due for completion next month.
Centralization will enable information to get to people "in a position to make a difference," the former secretary of the Navy said.
Change must be fundamental, Lehman said, "not just tweaking and moving the deck chairs or the organization boxes around," and the FBI should undergo a transformation as well.
He said FBI Director Robert Mueller is on the right track, but "we probably will go further in our recommendations to institutionalize changes" at the bureau.
Along with differences over ties between Saddam's government and al-Qaeda, a new question arose over whether Bush or Cheney gave the order on Sept. 11, 2001, to shoot down the fourth of the hijacked airliners.
The two told the commission that Bush gave his approval after a discussion with Cheney, who was in the White House command center.
Newsweek magazine reports in this week's issue that an early draft of the commission staff report reflected skepticism by staffers about the account of Cheney getting Bush's approval for the shoot-down order. After objections by the White House, the panel removed the wording from the draft, it said.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
Two people died and 19 others were injured after a Mexican Navy training ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said yesterday. The ship snapped all three of its masts as it collided with the New York City landmark late on Saturday, while onlookers enjoying the balmy spring evening watched in horror. “At this time, of the 277 on board, 19 sustained injuries, 2 of which remain in critical condition, and 2 more have sadly passed away from their injuries,” Adams posted on X. Footage shared online showed the Mexican Navy ship Cuauhtemoc, its sails furled
RSS