Bin Laden link

Bin Laden link: An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida terrorist network. The Pentagon-sponsored study, scheduled for release later this week, did confirm that Saddam's regime provided some support to other terrorist groups, particularly in the Middle East, U.S. officials said. His security services were directed primarily against Iraqi exiles, Shiite Muslims, Kurds and others he considered enemies of his regime.

British war costs: A parliamentary committee warned that Britain's military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq were likely to cost almost twice as much for the 12 months ending this month as they did in the previous financial year, despite a fall in British troop numbers in Iraq. Responding to a committee report that put this year's costs at $6.7 billion, the Defense Ministry said the rise was caused partly by higher combat bonuses and partly by spending more on "force protection," particularly new armored vehicles to combat roadside bombs.

Blackwater review:House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman expanded his effort to investigate private security contractor Blackwater Worldwide. In letters to the Internal Revenue Service, the Small Business Administration and the Labor Department, Waxman, D-Calif., questioned Blackwater's classification of its workers as "independent contractors" rather than employees. That designation, which the government has questioned in the past, has allowed the company to obtain $144 million in contracts set aside for small businesses and to avoid paying as much as $50 million in withholding taxes under State Department contracts, he said. A Blackwater spokeswoman called Waxman's allegations "completely without merit."

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