WASHINGTON, July 22: A US panel blamed both the Clinton and Bush administrations on Thursday for failing to prevent the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.

The 10-member panel concluded that there was no link between Iraq and Al Qaeda, one of President Bush's main arguments for the invasion.

Instead, there was more evidence of Al Qaeda's links to Iran, which had allowed at least eight hijackers to cross its territory, the report alleged. Iran has rejected this charge.

The 575-page report is the culmination of a 20-month investigation into the plot that killed 2,973 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

The final document illustrates 10 missed opportunities by both the Bush and Clinton administrations to halt the suicide hijacking plot, six of which are attributed to the Bush administration, four to the Clinton administration.

The report recommended the US and its allies should embark on a global strategy of diplomacy and public relations to dismantle terrorist networks and counter the militant theology that feeds them.

"To Muslim parents, terrorists like (Osama) bin Laden have nothing to offer their children but visions of violence and death. America and its friends have the advantage - our vision can offer a better future," it said.

The panel called for the creation of a new cabinet-level intelligence chief, senior to both the FBI and CIA directors. It also recommended major changes in the structure and culture of the FBI, and a new National Counterterrorism Center to replace the current Terrorism Threat Integration Center.

Before the 9/11 attacks, the report said, terrorism was "not the overriding" national security concern in Washington and as late as Sept 4, 2001, the Bush administration had not decided whether the Al Qaeda operation was a "big deal".

The White House, which initially tried to block a bipartisan inquiry into the attacks, welcomed the report with a sigh of relief. The White House had initially feared that a report criticizing the Bush administration alone could harm President Bush's re-election campaign.

"Had we had any inkling whatsoever that terrorists were about to attack our country, we would have moved heaven and earth to protect America," said the president.

Former counterterrorism official Richard Clarke said the report left many questions unanswered. Thomas Kean, chairman of a commission investigating the attacks, referred to the failure to act on reports that Zacarias Moussaoui, an alleged member of the plot, was studying at a US flight school.