WASHINGTON, June 21 (UPI) -- A senior officer in Saddam Hussein's security services was a member of the group that committed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Washington Times reports.
"There is at least one officer of Saddam's Fedayeen, a lieutenant colonel, who was a very prominent member of al-Qaida," said Sept. 11 commission member and former Navy Secretary John Lehman.
Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," Lehman said efforts were still ongoing to verify the allegation, which arose from information from "captured documents."
The commission released a staff report last week saying while Iraq had ties with al-Qaida, it did "not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship."
Although Lehman did not give names, a former Saddam lieutenant colonel has the same name as Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, an Iraqi with al-Qaida ties.
Published accounts show Shakir attended a planning meeting for the Sept. 11 attacks in January 2000. The meeting in Malaysia also was attended by two of the hijackers, Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, and senior al-Qaida leaders.
