The Sept. 11 commission is standing by its finding that al- Qaida had only limited contact with Iraq before the terrorist attacks, a determination disputed by Vice President Dick Cheney.
The 10-member, bipartisan panel issued a one-sentence statement Tuesday saying it had access to the same information as Cheney, who suggested strong ties between ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida.
Those ties were a central justification the Bush administration gave for going to war with Iraq and were called into question after the commission released a preliminary report last month. The report cited contacts between Saddam's regime and Osama bin Laden but said there was no "collaborative relationship."
Cheney questioned the commission's finding in an interview with CNBC and said there "probably" was information about Iraq's links to terrorists that the commission members did not learn during their 14-month investigation. The commission statement disputed that.
"After examining available transcripts of the vice president's public remarks, the 9/ 11 commission believes it has access to the same information the vice president has seen regarding contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq prior to the 9/11 attacks," the commission said.
The commission invited Cheney to offer any evidence that he thought it didn't have but never received any information.
Hope Yen, AP
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