State Dept. Puzzled By Putin Remarks

Finding themselves again out of the loop, officials at the State Department expressed bafflement at Russian president Vladimir Putin's statement that he had warned the U.S. that Saddam Hussein was planning attacks on the U.S.

Putin's announcement appeared timed to help George Bush counter the conclusions of the committee investigating the 9/11/2001 attacks that Iraq and al Qaeda has nothing to do with each other, suggesting that the invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with the "war on terror."

At the Office of Iraqi Liberty in the Pentagon, known as "The Loop," Iraq's Saddam-era debt to Russia was put back on the books, and rules for allowing Russian companies to bid for subcontracts to Halliburton were being prepared.