WASHINGTON, Sept 15: The United States has detected links between Iraq and the Al Qaeda terrorist network but has not established Iraqi involvement in the September 11 attacks, top officials said on Sunday.

Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice gave the strongest indications yet that Osama bin Laden’s group had been in contact with the government of Saddam Hussein.

But Powell told CBS television “there is no smoking gun that would link the regime in Baghdad to 9/11.”

Rice told Fox News Sunday “there are clearly links between Iraq and terrorism and there are Al Qaeda personnel that have been spotted in Baghdad.

“There is some evidence that there have been various meetings concerning Iraqi personnel and Al Qaeda personnel,” she said.

But she added that the United States was not suggesting that “Saddam Hussein somehow planned and plotted 9/11.”

While indicating that the investigation into Iraqi links with international terrorism continued, Rice said: “Let’s be clear. There’s plenty to indict Saddam Hussein without a direct link to 9-11. He clearly has links to terrorism.”

US officials have remained largely silent on contacts between Iraq and Osama bin Laden’s organization. And Powell said that Saddam’s links to weapons of mass destruction and his human rights infringements were important than his links to terrorism.

“We have been examining all connections that exist,” he told CBS.

“There are some indications that there were contacts between the Iraqi regime and some Al Qaeda members, but there is no smoking gun that would link the regime in Baghdad to 9-11.”

According to the London newspaper The Sunday Telegraph the British government has promised to make a case against Iraq that reveals the links to Al Qaeda.—AFP