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Russian source skeptical about 9/11 panel's conclusions

MOSCOW. June 17 (Interfax) - A Russian intelligence source expressed skepticism on Thursday about conclusions drawn by the U.S. commission investigating the September 11 attacks. The source argued that the point that there is "no credible evidence" of any link between the Saddam Hussein regime and al-Qaeda attacks and other conclusions made by the commission failed to draw a comprehensive picture of what Iraq was like two years ago. "Separated from other elements of the Iraqi problem, the conclusions and generalizations that have been made cannot be recognized as objective," the source told Interfax. He said Russian intelligence services possessed no evidence of any links between Saddam and al-Qaeda either. However, he went on, Russian intelligence received a report early in 2002 that Iraqi secret services were organizing terrorist attacks on U.S. territory and against U.S. diplomatic and military facilities outside the United States. "This information was more than once passed on to our American partners in oral and written form in the fall of 2002," the source said. He expressed support for the position Russia took at the start of the U.S.-led war against Iraq but said that, "nevertheless, in investigating the causes of the Iraq crisis, it is necessary to take into account all the aspects, including the direct threat to the U.S. from the Saddam Hussein regime."