9/11 panel slams FBI and Ashcroft; Bush admin defended

By: Mohamed Ali

WASHINGTON: The US commission investigating the September 11 attacks broadly criticized on Tuesday FBI and the Justice Department for failing to meet the threat from Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda.

It said Attorney General John Ashcroft did not see counterterrorism as a top priority before it was too late.

In a strong defense of the Bush administration, Ashcroft said Tuesday appearing before the commission the nation was stunned by the Sept. 11 attacks because “for nearly a decade our government had blinded itself to our enemies.”

The Attorney General also said he moved quickly once in office to overturn a “failed policy” that allowed American agents to capture bin Laden but not to assassinate him.

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Mubarak informs Bush of worries over Iraq, confers Mideast

CRAWFORD, Texas: Visiting President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak told US President George W. Bush during their private meeting at Bush's ranch on Monday that he was deeply concerned about the Iraq crisis urging Washington to hand back sovereignty “as soon as possible.”

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