OIC backs Iraqi govt as 9/11 panel disputes Iraq link to attacks

By: Abdullah

ISTANBUL, Turkey: The world's largest Islamic organization on Wednesday announced its support “for efforts to end the occupation of Iraq,” while the official investigation into the September 11 attacks cast doubt on US administration claims of links between Iraq and al-Qaeda used to justify last year's invasion.

In the Istanbul Declaration, adopted at the closing session of the three-day OIC summit, the 57 member Muslim states also supported the process of the transfer of authority to the Iraqis and stressed that this sovereignty must be complete.

The Islamic nations called on the international community to give priority to resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict and said Islamic countries will work to promote reform and development.

Bluntly contradicting the Bush administration, the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks reported Wednesday there was “no credible evidence” that Iraq aided al-Qaeda attempts to strike the United States.

The Bush administration has long claimed links between Iraq and al-Qaeda, and cited them as one reason for last year's offensive of Iraq.

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden made overtures to Saddam for assistance, the commission said, as he did with leaders in Sudan, Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere as he sought to build an Islamic army.

The report by commission staff said Bin Laden had met with a senior Iraqi intelligence officer in 1994 and had explored the possibility of cooperation, but the plans apparently never came to fruition.

Counterterrorism officials from the FBI and CIA testifying at Wednesday's hearing said they agreed with the staff report's conclusion. The report was issued at the start of the commission's final two days of public hearings into the hijacked-plane attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

END