Sept. 11 Commission Becoming Campaign Factor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A stream of revelations by the commission probing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has placed President Bush on the defensive and become an important background factor in the November presidential election, analysts said on Friday.

"Over time, the commission's reports have helped erode Bush's credibility. These issues are going to be front and center in the presidential debates in the fall," said David Birdsell, a political scientist at Baruch College in New York.

At its final hearings this week, the bipartisan commission issued a staff report saying there was no evidence of a "collaborative relationship" between former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Bush, who had alleged an Iraqi link to al Qaeda in making a case for the U.S.-led war on Iraq, immediately shot back that there were "numerous contacts" between Saddam and operatives of the militant network. Other administration heavyweights, including Vice President Dick Cheney and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, joined in the response.

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