Bush Resists WMD Probe Calls [View All]

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The White House is facing increasing pressure to set up a full independent inquiry into alleged intelligence failures in the run-up to war in Iraq. All Democratic presidential contenders support an inquiry, and this weekend former Vermont Governor Howard Dean is expected to demand an investigation.

Republican Senator John McCain has also broken ranks to insist on a full probe. President George W Bush has said he, too, wants to "know the facts", but not that an inquiry will be set up. "I want the American people to know that I, too, want to know the facts."

The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says the White House is moving - albeit at a slow pace - towards accepting that claims made about Iraqi weapons before the war may have been wrong. However, CIA analysts did not have their judgements on the issue coloured by undue pressure from the White House, a US newspaper says an inquiry has concluded. As this year's presidential election campaign gathers pace, the Democrats are keen to turn the issue into a political cause celebre, says our correspondent. Mr Dean, a long-standing critic of the war, is expected to demand a full, independent inquiry during a tour of a TV studios this weekend in a bid to reinvigorate his presidential campaign.

Influential Arizona Republican John McCain's decision to join the calls for an inquiry has also put pressure on the Bush administration. Mr Bush told reporters on Friday: "I want the American people to know that I, too, want to know the facts." He said he wanted to be able to compare what was found by the Iraq Survey Group - about 1,400 people searching for Iraq's alleged weapons - with what had been thought before the war.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3446849.stm