In article <c03ar8$1ofi$1@pencil.math.missouri.edu>, marcus@myrealbox.com
says...

Bush under fire over WMD inquiry 

Opposition Democrats in the United States have criticised a commission
set up by President Bush to investigate pre-Iraq war intelligence
failures. 

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said it was difficult to have
confidence in a panel appointed exclusively by the president. 

Others want the panel to report before the November presidential
election. 

The commission will also look at what the US knew about weapons
programmes in North Korea, Iran and Libya. 

The panel will be co-chaired by a Republican and a Democrat, and
includes outspoken Republican John McCain. 
Mr Bush said he wanted to know why intelligence reports about Iraq's
weapons capability appeared until now to have been misleading. 

The panel will "look at America's intelligence capabilities,
especially our intelligence about weapons of mass destruction", the
president said in a brief statement at the White House. 

'Immune' 

The main argument used by Britain and the US for invading Iraq last
March was the perceived threat from weapons of mass destruction. 

But no such weapons have yet been found, despite efforts by the Iraq
Survey Group formerly led by David Kay. 
"We are determined to figure out why," Mr Bush said. 

The commission is to submit its report by 31 March 2005 - well after
the presidential election. 

The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says that by that time, the
Republicans hope that Mr Bush will be safely re-elected and largely
immune to any criticism the commission might offer. 

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has also set up an independent inquiry to
examine intelligence which led the country to war. 

'Streak of independence' 

The chairmen of the new US commission - which will be expanded to nine
members - were named as former Virginia Governor and Senator Charles
Robb and retired judge Laurence Silberman. 

Correspondents say the appointment of Arizona Senator John McCain will
lend a streak of independence to the commission. 

He has already said he believes the panel should look at the role of
the politicians. 

But speaking shortly after the announcement of the commission, Mr
McCain told reporters: "The president of the United States, I believe,
did not manipulate any kind of information for political gain or
otherwise." 

CIA Director George Tenet has defended the intelligence, saying the
agencies had never claimed that Saddam Hussein was an "imminent
threat" but warned about the future danger he could pose. 

The search had to go on in Iraq for the weapons of mass destruction
that US intelligence believed existed, he said. 

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/3467901.stm

Published: 2004/02/07 07:36:21 GMT

) BBC MMIV