Washington, D.C.

Poll shows 70 percent believe Saddam, 9-11 link

Nearly seven in 10 Americans believe it is likely that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the Sept. 11 attacks, says a poll out almost two years after the terrorists’ strike against this country.

Sixty-nine percent in a Washington Post poll published Saturday said they believed it was likely the Iraqi leader was personally involved in the attacks carried out by al-Qaida. A majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents believe it’s likely Saddam was involved.

The belief in the connection persists even though there has been no proof of a link between the two.

President Bush and members of his administration suggested a link between the two in the months before the war in Iraq.

Washington, D.C.

Bush trumpets education initiative in weekly address

As developments in Iraq and the Middle East dominated President Bush’s attention, he tried to change the focus to his domestic agenda Saturday, saying the education law he championed is raising the bar for student achievement.

“The law sets a clear goal for American education: Every child, in every school, must perform at grade level in reading and math, which are the keys to all learning,” Bush said in his weekly radio address.

The school initiative, a centerpiece of Bush’s domestic agenda, seeks to improve achievement, particularly among poor students.

Critics have attacked it, largely because schools contend it demands too much without providing the money necessary to do it.

Italy

Ridge urges Europe to loosen passenger privacy demands

A top American official urged European leaders Saturday to cooperate with U.S. demands to share information on airline passengers such as names, place of birth and date of birth, saying European resistance was hampering anti-terrorism efforts.

Tom Ridge, secretary for homeland security, said the European Union’s demand to protect passengers’ privacy must be balanced by the right of those passengers to travel safely. He noted that the United States wasn’t requesting information on health or religion.

Ridge pressed his point at a conference in Cernobbio of European political and financial leaders.

Northern Ireland

IRA dissident charged in conflict’s deadliest attack

A 34-year-old electrician was arraigned Saturday in connection with the single bloodiest attack in the history of the Northern Ireland conflict.

Sean Hoey was charged with possession of explosive devices used in 13 dissident Irish Republican Army attacks, including the Aug. 15, 1998, strike on the town of Omagh.

The breakthrough came as David Trimble, the Protestant politician central to the survival of Northern Ireland’s peace process, narrowly defeated a hard-line challenge within his divided Ulster Unionist Party.

Trimble, who has faced repeated Ulster Unionist revolts because of his support for the 1998 Good Friday peace accord, triumphed in a 443-359 vote of his party’s grass-roots council.