US President George W. Bush, on the defensive over the Iraq war, insisted on Thursday that Saddam Hussein had a dangerous relationship with al Qaeda, a day after the independent Sept. 11 commission reported no evidence of collaboration between the two.

Responding to the latest challenge to his policy in Iraq, Bush asserted that there were «numerous contacts» between Saddam and al Qaeda operatives that justified the US-led invasion of Iraq.

«The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al Qaeda is because there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda,» the Republican president told reporters after meeting with his Cabinet.

But he denied accusations by critics that his administration encouraged people to believe Saddam had a role in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks which killed 3,000 people and prompted the U.S. war on terrorism.

«This administration never said that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al Qaeda,» Bush said. «We did say there were numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.»

Intelligence reports of a link between Saddam and the militant group behind the 2001 attacks formed a cornerstone of Bush's rationale for the invasion of Iraq, where more than 830 US soldiers have died after 14 months of violence.

In the months before the war, Bush and top aides including Vice President Dick Cheney warned that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction and could supply them to al Qaeda. No such weapons have been found in Iraq.

The bipartisan commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks did say there had been contact between Iraqis and al Qaeda members, including a Sudan meeting between al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Iraqi intelligence officers.

But the panel concluded that Iraq never responded to a bin Laden request for help and said there was no evidence of a «collaborative relationship».

The commission report was issued as the Bush administration was renewing assertions of links between Saddam and al Qaeda. «He (Saddam) had long established ties with al Qaeda,» Cheney said in a speech on Monday.

Democrats and other critics said the report entitled «Overview of the Enemy» showed the administration had lost all credibility on Iraq.

«It is clear that the president owes the American people a fundamental explanation about why he rushed to war for a purpose that it now turns out is not supported by the facts,» said Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, who is locked in a tight election battle against Bush.

But the White House asserted that the administration position on Iraq-al Qaeda links was not in conflict with the Sept. 11 commission's findings.

Asked if the administration believed the commission staff report was wrong, White House spokesman Scott McClellan replied: «No ... What they said was that there were high-level contacts, going back for quite some time. And that's consistent with what we said prior to going into Iraq and removing that regime from power.»

On Thursday, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged that he ordered the secret detention of an Iraqi terrorism suspect held for more than seven months near Baghdad without notifying the Red Cross.

Rumsfeld told reporters CIA Director George Tenet asked him last November «to take custody of an Iraqi national who was believed to be a high-ranking member of Ansar al-Islam,» which the United States has called a terrorist group.

«And we did so. We were asked to not immediately register the individual (with the International Committee of the Red Cross). And we did that,» Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon briefing hours after US President George W. Bush again voiced support for the beleaguered Pentagon chief.

The Iraqi man remains in custody, and Rumsfeld said he has been treated humanely. Rumsfeld did not explain the reasons for his actions, but added that «we are in the processing of registering» the man, whom he did not identify, with the Geneva-based ICRC.

Assigning a prisoner number and notifying the Red Cross are required under the Geneva Conventions and other international humanitarian laws.

Rumsfeld's comments came as the United States is conducting a major investigation into abuse, including sexual humiliation, of prisoners by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan.