Sept. 11 hijackers used library computer to book flight

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration yesterday revealed that some of the Sept. 11 hijackers booked their tickets on the Internet using a computer in a college library in New Jersey.

Ken Wainstein, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, made the disclosure in testimony to the House subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security. He argued that Congress should renew provisions of the USA Patriot Act that allow seizure of library and bookstore records.

Wainstein testified that library computers were used by Sept. 11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar to order airline tickets on a travel reservation Web site. The two men were aboard American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.

Wainstein also said three hijackers who were aboard planes that crashed into the World Trade Center had visited a public library in Delray Beach, Fla.

Tenet says he regrets "slam dunk" comment

Former CIA Director George Tenet said he regretted telling President Bush in 2002 that he had "slam dunk" evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

"Those were the two dumbest words I ever said," Tenet said Wednesday at a forum at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania.

The theory was a leading justification for the war in Iraq. Such weapons never were found.

Tenet left the CIA in July 2004 after seven years as director.

Government to pay in refugee's lawsuit

The government agreed to pay $87,500 to settle a lawsuit brought by a Kenyan refugee who was denied political asylum.

Rosebell Munyua, 35, said the government was negligent because it sent her back to Kenya even though she feared for her life. She escaped Kenya again and was granted asylum in 2002.