Saddam lawyer welcomes 9/11 probe

Amman, Jordan. THE head of a legal team defending former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein welcomed an official US probe into the September 11 attacks which found no evidence linking Iraq and the al-Qaeda terror network.

Jordanian lawyer Mohammad Rashdan said the results of the probe proved once more "that the Anglo-American aggression launched against Iraq is null and not based on any legal reason".

"(Saddam’s) defence committee challenges the US administration, President (George W.) Bush and all his advisers to show one, single legal reason for this treacherous aggression against the Arab and Muslim nation," Mr Rashdan said in a statement.

"The US administration tried to find a link between Iraq and the September 11 events or with al-Qaeda but yesterday it has been proven that such links do not exist at all," he said.

Yesterday, a US investigative panel said there was no "credible evidence" Iraq had helped al-Qaeda to attack the US and no sign of any "collaborative relationship" between Baghdad and Osama bin Laden’s group.

Therefore, the US is only left with the false claim that it came to Iraq to spread democracy," Mr Rashdan said, adding that even that pretext has failed to ring true, particularly after a damaging US prison scandal in Iraq.

The conclusions of the independent panel dealt another blow to Mr Bush’s justification for overthrowing Saddam’s regime, which Washington also charged with possessing as yet undiscovered weapons of mass destruction.

In April, Mr Rashdan said he was appointed by Saddam’s first wife, Sajida, and eldest daughter Raghad to represent the former dictator, who has been in detention since US forces captured him on December 13.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9880365%255E1702,00.html