Senator queries WMD claims

The threat posed by WMD was the main reason cited for war

A senior US senator says he has evidence that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) deliberately withheld crucial information from the UN arms inspectors deployed to Iraq.

The claim comes as Congress prepares to open inquiries into whether the US Government misread or inflated threats posed by Iraq before going to war.

In London, parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee has opened a hearing into whether the UK Government misled parliament on the threat posed by Iraq.

In both cases, a key question is over claims, made by the US and the UK, that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Since the war was officially declared over, no such weapons have been located - although their alleged existence was a key reason cited by the US President George W Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair for going to war.

'Not shared'

Senator Carl Levin is the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee which is reviewing the information provided by the CIA to the United Nations.

It undermines the credibility of the director of intelligence to be making public statements relative to intelligence which are not factually accurate

Senator Carl Levin

He told reporters that if the public had known that information about alleged top weapons sites was not being shared, there would have been "greater public demand that the inspection process continue".

"Why did the CIA say that they had provided detailed information to the UN inspectors on all of the high and medium suspect sites with the UN, when they had not? Did the CIA act in this way in order not to undermine administration policy? Was there another explanation for this?" he asked.

While Mr Levin has already made clear that he believes intelligence material may have been misused to make the case for war, the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says this is the first time he has backed it up with one specific, and serious, allegation.

Mr Bush defended his decision to go to war in a speech on Monday.

"This nation acted to a threat from the dictator of Iraq. Now there are some who would like to rewrite history; revisionist historians is what I like to call them," the president said.

Credibility issue

Mr Levin wants a Senate investigation into whether US intelligence on Iraq was "shaded or exaggerated".

He says there are 550 suspected weapons sites, of which 150 were considered "top suspect sites" by the CIA. Of those 150, some were rated high or medium priority.

CIA director George Tenet said earlier this year that UN weapons inspectors were briefed on all "high value and moderate value sites", an undisclosed number.

Mr Levin disputes this, and wants information about the precise number of sites declassified.

"It undermines the credibility of the director of intelligence to be making public statements relative to intelligence which are not factually accurate," Mr Levin said, adding that a lack of confidence in the intelligence services would affect security in the future.

But the Republican majority in the US Congress has rejected calls for a formal investigation, arguing that any such inquiry could harm the intelligence agencies.

The routine oversight work of the Intelligence and Armed Services committees would be enough to evaluate the Iraqi threat, Republicans say.