US President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney were questioned behind closed doors Thursday by the September 11 commission about whether they could have done more to counter a looming al-Qaida threat before the 9/11 attacks.

In a historic session with potential election-year ramifications, Bush and Cheney sat down in the Oval Office with the panel of five Republicans and five Democrats to answer questions for several hours.

Bush and Cheney agreed under pressure from victims' families and the commission to answer its questions, but only on condition that they appear together and in private, with no tape recording of the session. They were not under oath.

Past testimony has established that elements of the US intelligence apparatus were aware of threats to American targets from the militant al-Qaida network, led by Osama bin Laden, before the September 11, 2001, hijacking attacks.

Bush was braced for close questioning about his response to an August 6, 2001, presidential intelligence memo entitled "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US." It said al-Qaida members were in the United States and that the FBI had detected suspicious patterns of activity "consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks."

Bush has already said the memo's usefulness was limited because it did not point to a specific target and did not provide "actionable intelligence." He was unlikely to divert from that position.

Bush was likely to be asked why he did not launch the US Government into battle stations based on the memo, which he received while on vacation in Texas.

Bush's advisers are worried the commission's findings will be critical of Bush, who is running for re-election in November on his record of fighting terrorism. The panel is working to complete its final report by July 26, well into the campaign season.

"It's good to see that after opposing and then stonewalling it, President Bush and Vice-President Cheney will finally be testifying before the 9/11 commission," said Chad Clanton, a campaign spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

"Let's hope they are open and forthcoming. These hearings are important to getting to the bottom of what happened, and learning what must be done to improve America's security," Clanton said.

A Harris Poll released on Wednesday said 62 percent of those polled believed the Bush administration was warned by intelligence reports "about possible terrorist attacks in this country."

Bush and Cheney were likely to be asked what they had done to prepare the United States for the possibility of al-Qaida attacks in the months after they took office.

Former counter terrorism chief Richard Clarke has said Bush did not heed his warnings that al-Qaida was an urgent threat.

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice has responded by saying the Bush administration shifted to a more aggressive strategy against al-Qaida than that conducted by Bush's predecessor, Democrat Bill Clinton.

White House officials expected Bush to take the lead in answering questions. He and Cheney will be asked for a detailed chronology of the actions they took during the crisis on September 11.

(China Daily April 30, 2004)