Asked by the television network Fox News whether Saddam Hussein was involved in some way in planning the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, Chalabi said he suspected there was.

"I cannot say that at this time, but I believe that there was definitely some kind of knowledge about what was going on and what was going to happen, because of the nature of the meeting that I'm referring to and the person who participated in it from the side of al-Qaeda," he told Fox News.

Chalabi, heads up the US-backed Iraqi National Congress (INC), an organization that opposed Saddam Hussein's ousted regime.

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