WASHINGTON, June 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – An official investigation into the September 11 attacks found no links between Al-Qaeda and the regime of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, refuting a claim exploited by the Bush administration to justify last year’s invasion-turned-occupation of the oil-rich Arab country.

A report released on Wednesday, June 16, by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States said there was no "credible evidence" that Iraq had helped Al-Qaeda attack the United States, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Along with the allegation that Iraq was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, none of which was ever found after a year of American occupation, top administration official, including President George Bush, have often asserted that there were extensive ties between Baghdad and Al-Qaeda.

As recent as Monday, June 14, Vice President Dick Cheney claimed that Saddam had "long-established ties with Al-Qaeda."

However, the 9/11 commission, which had access to all classified information, said there had been contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda but no cooperation.

It added that Osama Bin Laden "explored possible cooperation with Iraq" while in Sudan through 1996, but that "Iraq apparently never responded" to his request for help.

The commission cited reports of contacts between Iraq and Al-Qaeda after Bin Laden went to Afghanistan in 1996, adding, "but they do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship.

"Two senior Bin Laden associates have adamantly denied that any ties existed between Al-Qaeda and Iraq. We have no credible evidence that Iraq and Al-Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States."

The 9/11 report also said there was "substantial uncertainty" about whether Bin Laden or his network had any role in a 1993 attack on the World Trade Center in New York or a reported plot, based in Manila, to blow up a dozen US aircraft in 1995.

Presidential hopeful Sen. John F. Kerry charged that the "misled America, and the administration reached too far."

"I believe that the 9/11 report, the early evidence, is that they're going to indicate that we didn't have the kind of terrorists links that this administration was asserting. I think that's a very, very serious finding," he told Michigan Public Radio.

However, a White House official argued that the administration's statements on Al-Qaeda "rest on a solid foundation of history and facts. The record of links between Iraq and Al-Qaeda is clear to anyone who has open eyes and an open mind".

Cheney's aides said he has no intention of backing down on Al-Qaeda claim despite the commission's finding.

"Hell no!" an administration official was quoted by Reuters when asked if Cheney would retract his statements.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared in September 2002: "We know that Al-Qaeda is operating in Iraq today".

Secretary of State Colin Powell admitted in January that he had seen "no smoking gun [or] concrete evidence" of ties between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda.

Cheney claimed Saddam had "long-established ties with Al-Qaeda."

The final official report is to be handed over to the administration next month.