The Republican majority in the US Congress has rejected calls for a formal investigation into whether the government misread or inflated threats posed by Iraq before going to war.
They said any such inquiry could harm the intelligence agencies, and that the routine oversight work of the Intelligence and Armed Services committees would be enough to evaluate the Iraqi threat.
The move comes amid mounting concern in Congress and internationally over why weapons of mass destruction that President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said posed an imminent threat have not been found.
"There seems to be a campaign afoot by some to criticise the intelligence community and the president for connecting the dots, for putting together a picture that seemed all too obvious," Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts said.
He said his committee would evaluate pre-war intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and its connection to terrorist groups.
Democrats' doubts
It would also examine whether the findings were reasonable and accurate.
The CIA has begun submitting details of the intelligence that supported administration claims on the weapons.
"If it proves out that there is some concern and some kind of egregious mistake, why obviously, we'll go further with that with further action," Senator Roberts said.
The Republican chairmen of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee joined Senator Roberts in rejecting calls for an investigation.
The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Jay Rockefeller, said he would continue pressing for a special investigation.
"What they appear to be doing is entirely inadequate and slow-paced and potentially kind of sleepwalking through history," he said.
The White House has stood by its position that Iraq was pursuing banned weapons, but officials have begun to talk of finding weapons "programmes" or "capabilities" instead of the weapons themselves.
Analysts say the inability of Democrats and Republicans to agree on an inquiry deepens partisan divisions in an area with potential consequences in the 2004 presidential election.
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