Relatives of twin towers victims sue Saddam

Relatives of those killed in the twin towers attacks have launched a $1,000bn lawsuit against Iraq, alleging that Saddam Hussein and his officials knew what al-Qa'ida was planning.

"Since Iraq could not defeat the US military, it resorted to terror attacks on US citizens," says the lawsuit filed in the US District Court in Manhattan seeking damages on behalf of 1,400 victims. The suit names al-Qa'ida, Iraq and Osama bin Laden as defendants.

The lawsuit is being brought by the Kreindler & Kreindler law firm, which specialises in aviation disaster litigation.

It attempts to draw a strong link between al-Qa'ida and Iraq. It is precisely this link that hawks in Washington have been trying – and failing – to prove to support their call for military action against President Saddam.

The lawsuit relies in part on a newspaper article published in Iraq on 21 July 2001. The lawsuit says a columnist writing under the byline Naeem Abd Muhalhal described Mr bin Laden thinking "seriously, with the seriousness of the Bedouin of the desert, about the way he will try to bomb the Pentagon after he destroys the White House".

The suit alleges that Mr Muhalhal writes a regular column for the weekly newspaper in which the article appeared and that one former associate claimed the writer had been connected with Iraqi intelligence since the early 1980s. It said Mr Muhalhal was praised by President Saddam in a subsequent article for his "documentation of important events and heroic deeds that proud Iraqis have accomplished".

A separate lawsuit against al-Qa'ida, the Taliban and members of the Saudi Royal Family was filed in Washington last month.