At the urging of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the Bush administration has for the first time, acknowledged that Iraq is being examined as a sponsor of the Sept. 11 suicide attacks in New York and Washington.

U.S. officials said the CIA is investigating a range of possible sponsors of the suicide attacks, attributed to Saudi millionaire fugitive Osama Bin Laden. They are also evaluating information that connects Iraq to some of the suicide hijackers.

During the first week after the attacks, administration officials said the White House were focusing on terrorist organizations associated with Bin Laden, Middle East Newsline reported. They said, however, that they would not rule out government sponsorship of the attacks.

But the officials said the CIA is now investigating a report that one of the hijackers met with an Iraqi intelligence official earlier this year.

The hijacker was identified as Mohammed Atta, a Palestinian who was wanted by Israel for a 1986 bombing. Atta was identified as having been one of the hijackers in the commercial airlines flight that slammed into the World Trade Center.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the officials said, has been promoting an intensive search into an Iraqi connection to the attack. Rumsfeld has called for attacks both on Bin Laden as well as countries that harbor his Al Qaida group.

"The Al Qaida network probably has activities in some 50-60 countries, not just in Europe or the Middle East, but even in Asia, and certainly in the United States of America," Rumsfeld said. "So the evidence is very clear that a number of states are doing that."

Attorney General John Ashcroft did not deny that Iraqi is being investigated. "It's pretty clear that the networks that conduct these kinds of events are harbored and supported, sustained, protected by a variety of foreign governments," Ashcroft said on Wednesday. "And it's time for those governments to understand with crystal clarity that the United States of America will not tolerate that kind of support for networks that would inflict this kind of damage on the American people."

Iraq has denied any connection to the suicide attacks. At the same time, Iraq is preparing its military for any U.S. attack.

On late Tuesday, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein met his air defense commander and discussed U.S. and British patrols over the no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq.

Arab countries and Turkey have urged Washington not to attack Iraq. Turkish officials appeared to dismiss any immediate offensive against the Saddam regime.

"The United States has not made such a demand [for an attack on Iraq]," Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said. "Even they have not decided how and when the operation will be staged."

Print this Article

Email this article

Free Headline Alerts