from reuters
Citing U.S. officials familiar with classified intelligence reports, the newspaper said Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, who was taken into U.S. custody in July, told interrogators he did not meet Mohamed Atta in Prague.
That reported meeting was used by conservatives within and outside the Bush administration as evidence of a link between former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, the group responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In the run-up to the war, U.S. President George W. Bush argued that invading Iraq was part of his administration's anti-terrorism campaign.
U.S. officials cautioned that Ani may have lied to interrogators about the meeting, but the CIA and FBI eventually concluded that the meeting probably did not take place and that there was no evidence that Saddam's government was involved in the Sept. 11 hijack attacks, the Times said.
Citing U.S. officials familiar with classified intelligence reports, the newspaper said Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, who was taken into U.S. custody in July, told interrogators he did not meet Mohamed Atta in Prague.
That reported meeting was used by conservatives within and outside the Bush administration as evidence of a link between former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, the group responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In the run-up to the war, U.S. President George W. Bush argued that invading Iraq was part of his administration's anti-terrorism campaign.
U.S. officials cautioned that Ani may have lied to interrogators about the meeting, but the CIA and FBI eventually concluded that the meeting probably did not take place and that there was no evidence that Saddam's government was involved in the Sept. 11 hijack attacks, the Times said.
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