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Amid mounting questions over pre-war claims by the Bush administration about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, US lawmakers are pressing for congressional hearings to probe whether US intelligence was manipulated to provide a rationale for the war.
"I think that it's very appropriate for the Congress to have hearings on the whole issue," Senator John McCain, a leading Republican from Arizona, told the Cable News Network (CNN) on Tuesday.
The Bush administration had cited Iraq's harboring and development of weapons of mass destruction as the key reason for the US war against Baghdad. More than one month after President George W. Bush declared major combat over, however, no such weapons have been found.
Some Democrats charge that the administration hyped the perceived threat from Iraq and others question the accuracy of US intelligence on what kinds of weapons Iraq possessed or was trying to develop.
Several prominent Republicans, even as they voice support for the military action against Iraq, say hearings are warranted. Republican Senator John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in an interview with CNN over the weekend, "We're going to look at this situation."
But Republican Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday that no hearings have yet been scheduled.
Jane Harman, a California Democrat and member of the House Intelligence Committee, said if questions are now being raised about the accuracy of the information provided by the Bush administration on Iraq's weapons, Congress needs to investigate.
"We need to make sure our intelligence is timely, accurate and unbiased going forward," she said. "The US credibility depends on that."
Meanwhile, local media reports said the Central Intelligence Agency plans to give lawmakers intelligence data that Secretary of State Colin Powell used in his February presentation to the United Nations, in which he said that Iraq had sarin, nerve agents and botulinum toxin.
(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2003)
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