Bush launches Iraq WMD commission

Bush - not Congress - chose members of the panel

US president George W Bush has named a commission to investigate pre-war intelligence on Iraq, where no weapons of mass destruction have been found.

The panel will be co-chaired by a Republican and a Democrat, and includes maverick Republican John McCain.

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

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

We're also determined to make sure that American intelligence is as accurate as possible for every challenge in the future George Bush Bush defuses election liability

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.

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.

"We're also determined to make sure that American intelligence is as accurate as possible for every challenge in the future."

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.

'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.

COMMISSION MEMBERS Laurence Silberman, former judge (chair) Senator John McCain Chuck Robb, former Democratic senator (chair) Lloyd Cutler, former White House counsel Richard Levin, President Yale university William Studeman, former CIA deputy director Pat Wald, former US Appeals Court judge

Correspondents say the appointment of Arizona Senator John McCain will lend a streak of independence to the commission. Some Democrats have criticised its composition as biased.

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."

On Thursday CIA Director George Tenet 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.