WASHINGTON, March 23: If US immigration controls and intelligence systems had been more stringent, the September 11 attacks could have been prevented, the chairman of the independent commission investigating the strikes said on Tuesday.
"My feeling is a whole number of circumstances, had they been different, might have prevented 9/11," Thomas Kean told CBS television. "They involve everything from how people got into the country to failures in the intelligence system. There's a whole series of things.
"Had any number of them gone a different way, then perhaps 9/11 could have been prevented," he said. "I believe we're getting the documentation, I believe we're getting the witnesses, I believe we're getting the whole picture," Kean added in a separate interview on ABC television.
"And by the time the commission presents its report, I think we'll not only have the answers on 9/11 for the American people, but hopefully we're going to have some recommendations which are going to make the American people safer if they're adopted."
A number of current and former US administration officials were to testify before the commission later Tuesday, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
LIST EXPANDED: The United States has designated Iraq-based Ansar al-Islam a foreign terrorist organization and outlawed all dealings with it, according to a statement issued on Tuesday, adds our correspondent.
US officials said Ansar al-Islam had close links to Al Qaeda. "Under US law, this designation makes it illegal for persons in the United States or subject to US jurisdiction to provide material support to Ansar al-Islam. It requires US financial institutions to block assets of Ansar al-Islam," the State Department announced.
The designation also allows the department to deny visas to members of this group. "Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden participated in the formation and funding of the group, which has provided safe haven to Al Qaeda in northeastern Iraq. Ansar al-Islam trained in Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan," the department said.
Ansar al-Islam is one of the leading groups engaged in anti-Coalition attacks in Iraq. The United States also re-designated three groups-Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Asbat al-Ansar, and the Salafi Group for Call and Combat - as terrorist organizations. The initial designations of these groups in 2002 were due to expire on March 26.
