9/11 panel wants counter-terrorism centre

The final report of the panel investigating the 9/11 attacks recommends a major restructuring of the nation8217;s intelligence community an...

The final report of the panel investigating the 9/11 attacks recommends a major restructuring of the nation8217;s intelligence community and includes broad criticism of the White House, Congress and other parts of the US government for failing to detect, thwart and better respond to the hijackings, according to panel members and officials.

The book-length report 8212; being readied for public release on Thursday 8212; has been endorsed by all 10 of the bipartisan panel8217;s members. It features many of the findings that emerged from public hearings and staff investigations, including the conclusion that Al Qaeda and Iraq did not form a close working relationship.

But the final report urges specific and dramatic reforms that include creation of a powerful national counter-terrorism centre, according to administration officials and those involved in drafting the document. The new centre would have far greater authority than the Terrorist Threat Integration Centre opened by the CIA last year.

The report also recommends a Cabinet-level office and director to oversee the CIA, FBI and other intelligence agencies, as The New York Times reported on Saturday. But one official familiar with the report said that was only part of a broader reorganisation. The report caps a 20-month probe in which the independent commission gained unprecedented access to closely held presidential briefings, transcripts of interrogations of high-level Al Qaeda leaders and other classified material.

nbsp;	Hijackers may have passed through: Iran

		nbsp;	8226; TEHRAN: Iran said on Sunday that some Al Qaeda men blamed for the 9/11 attacks may have illegally passed through Iran from Afghanistan months before striking but dismissed as 8216;8216;fabrications8217;8217; US reports that Tehran may have facilitated the attacks, Foreign Ministry spokesman H. R. Asefi said, reacting to the 9/11 Commission report. 8212;AP/PTI	nbsp;

Investigators have laid out a mass of evidence suggesting there were several opportunities to break up hijacker cells than previously understood. These include at least two and as many as eight instances in which hijackers presented passports that had been manipulated and poor communication among US computers preventing plotters from being tagged. It also identified by name 10 hijacker candidates who were dropped from the plot, including 9/11 accused conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.

The report will expand on earlier findings that Al Qaeda8217;s contacts with Iran were more advanced than believed, and that they may have developed a relationship of convenience that included cooperation in attacks like the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia.

8212;LAT-WP