White House refuses to provide intelligence report on Iraq

Senate Democrats claim the document could help clear up exactly what intelligence agencies told Bush about Iraq's illicit weapons. The administration and CIA say the White House is protected by executive privilege and Republicans on the committee dismissed the Democrats' argument that the summary was significant, a media report said yesterday quoting Congressional officials.

The review, prepared for President Bush in October 2002, summarised the findings of a classified, 90-page National Intelligence Estimate about Iraq's illicit weapons.

Congressional officials were quoted by the 'New York Times' as saying that notes taken by Senate staffers who were permitted to review the document show that it eliminated references to dissent within the Government about the National Intelligence Estimate's (NIE) conclusions.

"In determining what the President was told about the contents of the NIE dealing with Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, qualifiers and all, there is nothing clearer than this single page," Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat, said in a 10-page "additional view" that was published as an addendum to the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on Friday (July 9,2004), the paper said.