Baghdad, Feb 12: A bid by the United States to establish a link between suspected terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and Iraq is a pretext for Washington to attack Baghdad, a senior Iraqi official said here today. "The desperate bid by the US administration to establish a connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda (the network headed by bin Laden) is part of a policy to find an excuse to launch an offensive against Iraq," Salem al-Qubaissi, head of an Iraqi parliamentary committee on international affairs, told a news agency. The United States yesterday said a just-released recording of a voice believed to be that of bin Laden calling for suicide attacks against US and Israeli interests showed that al-Qaeda and Iraq were working together.

Bureau Report