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US President Bush insisted on Thursday that Saddam Hussein had posed 8216;8216;a threat because he had terrorist connections8217;8217; t...

US President Bush insisted on Thursday that Saddam Hussein had posed 8216;8216;a threat because he had terrorist connections8217;8217; to Al Qaeda 8212; despite a finding by the panel probing 9/11 attacks that there was no credible evidence of cooperation between the ousted Iraqi dictator and the global terrorist network.

In a TV interview later, Vice-President Dick Cheney challenged the findings far more strongly, arguing that the evidence of Saddam8217;s ties to Al Qaeda and other terrorists 8216;8216;is overwhelming.8217;8217; He criticised what he called 8216;8216;outrageous8217;8217; and 8216;8216;irresponsible8217;8217; press reports for distorting the issue.

The Bush administration has repeatedly sparred with panel members over their requests for documents, interviews with key officials, and an extension of the panel8217;s deadline, now scheduled for July 26.

The current disagreement is potentially more potent, however, since the White House made Saddam8217;s alleged terrorist ties 8212; including support for the 9/ 11 hijackers in spirit, if not in deed 8212; an emotional part of the argument that deposing the Iraqi leader was necessary to protect the US from future terrorist attacks.

Late on Thursday, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence voted unanimously to approve a report that officials said is critical of pre-war assessments by the CIA and other US intelligence agencies regarding Iraq8217;s illicit weapons, its ties to terrorists and other issues.

Speaking to reporters after a Cabinet meeting, Bush argued that 8216;8216;numerous contacts8217;8217; over the years between members of the former Baghdad regime and followers of Al Qaeda proved that a 8216;8216;relationship8217;8217; existed between Saddam and Osama bin Laden. 8216;8216;The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and Al Qaeda is because there was a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda,8217;8217; he said.

Bush, however, added that the administration 8216;8216;never said8217;8217; the 9/11 attacks 8216;8216;were orchestrated between Saddam and Al Qaeda.8217;8217; But, Cheney appeared reluctant to abandon that position. Asked if Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attack during an interview on CNBC8217;s Capital Report, he said: 8216;8216;We don8217;t know. You know, what the commission said is they can8217;t find any evidence of that.8217;8217;

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Cheney said 8216;8216;the one thing we have8217;8217; indicating Iraqi support for the 9/11 attacks is a Czech intelligence service report saying lead hijacker Mohammad Atta met with an Iraqi intelligence official in Prague on April 9, 2001. 8216;8216;That8217;s never been proven,8217;8217; he said. 8216;8216;It8217;s never been refuted.8217;8217;

Polls show that Americans still believe that evidence shows Iraq has supported Al Qaeda attacks. But critics insisted that the administration had misrepresented the threat. 8216;8216;Every time I was told there was no collaborative relationship,8217;8217; said Greg Thielmann, a former director at the State Department8217;s bureau of intelligence and research. 8216;8216;If anything, it was a hostile relationship, because Saddam understood that Laden wanted to do away with his kind of secular regime.8217;8217; 8212;LAT-WP