TEHRAN - The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee is currently investigating the reports that before the September 11 incidents in the United States, the White House officials had been informed of the possibility of such attacks but did not take any measures to prevent these incidents. The disclosure has raised serious objections from the Democratic Congressmen who argue that the White House stopped short of taking effective measures to save the lives of thousands of innocent citizens. These objections prompted Vice President Dick Cheney to threaten leaders of the Democratic Party with serious action, warning them not to try to politicize recent disclosures concerning the September 11 incidents.

A briefing Bush had on August 6, 2001, has been the object of particular scrutiny because it stated that the Al-Qaeda terrorist networks had used hijackings in the past and could do so again.

And while top lawmakers have demanded the contents of that briefing be released to Congress, Cheney said he would recommend against it.

The Senate Intelligence Committee, chaired by Senator Bob Graham, has already summoned the Head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Robert Mueller, and CIA Chief George Tenet for questioning. The New York-based Fox News network had earlier reported that the CIA had released a report on a possible terrorist plane attack of the Pentagon two years before the September 11 incidents. The report also mentioned the name of Ramzi Yousef, a close ally of Bin Laden and the confessed mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, as having warned that the twin World Trade Center towers could be blown up with the use of airplanes.

According to a report published by the London-based Arabic language daily **asharq al-Awsat** yesterday, the families of the victims and those having suffered from the September 11 incidents have filed a lawsuit against President Bush for not having done enough to prevent the incidents.

The daily reported that the plaintiffs' lawyer, Stanley Hilton from California, who is taking legal action against the U.S. president, has asked for seven billion dollars in damages.

Hilton has told the court that Bush did not carry out the duties entrusted in him by the U.S. Constitution, thus allowing the terroristic attacks to take place.

Meanwhile, the winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize Bishop Desmond Tutu, speaking in an interview with the Fox News network, said the September 11 incidents were created by some individuals, but the United States attacked a country in return and killed a large number of innocent people through its air raids.

Tutu, who is from South Africa, has spent his whole life promoting peace and human rights in the world.

He told the network that the world is a sacred place, where there are lots of good things besides evil. Tutu noted that the evil in the world should be tackled through legal means.