ELEANOR HALL: President Bush's statement today endorsed Colin Powell's statements of an active terror group affiliated with Al Qaeda operating out of Iraq.

President Bush's assertions go further than past US claims, for the first time suggesting Saddam Hussein is directly targeting the American people.

But some are already expressing doubts about evidence provided by the US and Britain.

An intelligence dossier released by Tony Blair's office this week has been accused of lifting much of its material from academic sources.

The leader of the Islamic extremist group in Iraq has denied any links with Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein.

And as Rafael Epstein reports, the CIA's former Iraq analyst says such a link is highly improbable.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: President Bush says that Saddam Hussein has the motive, the means and the hatred to threaten the American people.

But British security forces told The Guardian newspaper today there was no solid evidence linking an Iraqi extremist group with the death of a British policeman in a raid on a suspected terror cell in Manchester, a link alleged yesterday by American Secretary of State Colin Powell.

America claims terror cells in Europe were trained in Afghanistan by an Al Qaeda operative called Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who they say was Osama bin Laden's senior man in Baghdad.

But British security forces say it is still far too early to make such a definite assessment.

As well, the New York Times reports today that the leader of the Iraqi extremist group Ansar al-Islam has denied working in concert with Baghdad.

Ansar al-Islam's leader Mullah Krekar has enjoyed political refugee status in Norway since 1991.

This week he has told various media groups he's never had any links with Saddam Hussein and he said as much when questioned by FBI investigators in the Netherlands last year.

STEPHEN PELLETIERE: I don't think it's very solid at all.

I think I know that group. I think I dealt either with that group or with a same group under a different name when I was with the Central Intelligence Agency in the eighties.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Stephen Pelletiere was the CIA's chief Iraq analyst during the 1980s.

He says Ansar al-Islam operates out of the northern corner of Iraq, bordering Iran and Turkey. He says it is impossible for the group to operate in such an area.

STEPHEN PELLETIERE: The location of the Ansa group indicates that it has connections to Iran and for an intelligence officer it does not make any sense to argue that a group that has ties to Iran is also working for Saddam Hussein.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: The British case against Al Qaeda has been damaged.

Downing Street published its latest 19-page dossier on Monday, describing Saddam Hussein's intelligence organisation.

It was presented as an up to date intelligence analysis. The dossier was cited and endorsed by Colin Powell in his speech to the Security Council.

But Channel Four news says that the bulk of the document was copied from three articles, one from Jane's Intelligence Review and another by a research associate at the Centre for Non-Proliferation Studies in Monterey, California.

Both authors say they weren't consulted about the use of their work.

Much of Colin Powell's evidence linking the Baghdad extremist group to current anti-terror investigations in Europe comes from the testimony of an unnamed detainee in Guantanamo Bay.

US intelligence says he was tracked down after using his satellite phone to boast of a role in the assassination of an American official in Jordan last year.

He's apparently the deputy of al-Zarqawi, the Al Qaeda operative who apparently trained the men now being investigated over planned terror attacks in Europe.

Stephen Pelletiere says in his opinion such testimony is suspect.

STEPHEN PELLETIERE: Because they'll tell you anything! And you work them over.

Anyone in the intelligence community knows that.

Get information from detainees by interrogating them and you know what that is.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: What are you saying?

The threats of force and the threats of torture and threats of deportation to countries that aren't covered?

STEPHEN PELLETIERE: No threats, they torture them.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: But surely the US Government would deny that wouldn't they?

STEPHEN PELLETIERE: Oh sure.

ELEANOR HALL: Stephen Pelletiere, former Iraq analyst for the CIA speaking to Rafael Epstein.

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