Cheney Says Iraq Harbored Al Qaeda

Speaking to about 400 Republicans at a convention center here, Cheney defended the U.S. invasion of Iraq, saying Hussein had refused to adhere to U.N. Security Council resolutions and had used chemical weapons against his own people.

Cheney added that Hussein had "provided safe harbor and sanctuary to terrorists for years

Similar comments by Cheney and President Bush touched off a controversy in June, when the staff of the independent 9/11 commission issued a report which said that Hussein apparently had no "collaborative relationship" with Al Qaeda. The terrorism group, led by Osama bin Laden, is considered responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

The staff's conclusion led to a debate about whether Bush and Cheney had properly stated the intelligence when they cited links between Hussein and Al Qaeda. Cheney has spoken of "long-established ties" between the former Iraqi leader and the terrorism network, and Bush in his 2003 State of the Union address said that Hussein "aids and protects terrorists, including members of Al Qaeda."

The commission staff report said that a senior Iraqi intelligence officer reportedly met with Bin Laden in the early 1990s in Sudan and possibly later in Afghanistan. But those contacts "do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship," the report said.

"Two senior Bin Ladin associates have adamantly denied that any ties existed between al Qaeda and Iraq," the report said, using an alternate spelling for the terrorist leader. "We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States."

Anne Womack, Cheney's campaign spokeswoman, said the vice president in his comments was linking Hussein to Abu Musab Zarqawi, believed to be behind elements of the insurgency in Iraq. Experts have differed on whether Zarqawi is affiliated with Al Qaeda or runs his own terrorist network.

Cheney's comments came as Bush, also on the campaign trail, attacked Democrat John F. Kerry's tax and spending proposals. The Bush campaign unveiled a new television ad criticizing the Democrat for recent comments on Medicare.