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2004-06-16 - 5:09 p.m. The commission investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks said in a report issued today (Wednesday 16 June 2004) that the panel's staff traced Al Qaeda's finances, reporting that it had found "no convincing evidence that any government financially supported Al Qaeda before 9/11," other than limited support provided by the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan some years earlier. It said that Bin Laden had explored cooperation with Iraq while living in Sudan in the mid-1990s, although he was opposed to Saddam Hussein's secular regime. He was said, according to the report, to have requested space in Iraq to establish training camps and help in getting weapons, "but Iraq apparently never responded." The report stated: "There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda also occurred after Bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan, 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." As recently as yesterday (Monday 15 June), Vice President Dick Cheney continued to insist that Saddam Hussein had long established ties with Al Qaeda. � 
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