Bush to announce Iraq WMD inquiry

McCain agreed to join the commission on Thursday

US President George W Bush is set to announce a commission to investigate intelligence failures over the Iraq war.

Officials said Mr Bush would name maverick Republican Senator John McCain as a member of the commission.

Senator McCain is best known for opposing Mr Bush for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000.

Former head weapons inspector David Kay said the decision to go war in Iraq was based on false intelligence.

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.

However, on Thursday Mr Bush said that though the decision was a "tough call" it was the right one.

Meanwhile CIA Director George Tenet defended the intelligence saying the agencies had never said Saddam Hussein was an "imminent threat" but stood by warnings 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.

The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says Mr Tenet's address amounted to him drawing the battle lines ahead of the investigation.

Streak of independence

The White House has refused to disclose the names of all the commission members in advance.

WMD INTELLIGENCE STATEMENTS 28 Jan: David Kay tells Congress: "We were almost all wrong" in assuming Iraq had illicit weapons 29 Jan: National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice acknowledges flaws in pre-war intelligence 30 Jan: President Bush says he wants the "facts" 2 Feb: President Bush says he will order an inquiry

But Republican sources said Mr McCain, who is currently in Germany, was offered the post by the administration on Thursday and accepted.

Correspondents say the Arizona senator will lend a streak of independence to the commission, the composition of which was said by some Democrats to be biased.

The members are being chosen by the president rather than by Congress.

The commission will have access to findings by the Iraq Survey Group, of which Mr Kay used to be the head.

It will also look beyond the issue of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to intelligence-gathering in the war on terror and on rogue states.

It is not expected to report before the presidential election in November. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has also set up an independent inquiry to examine intelligence which led the country to war, under former cabinet secretary Lord Butler.