Associated Press -- Arab News

WASHINGTON, 3 February 2004 — President George W. Bush said yesterday he would order an independent investigation into intelligence failures in Iraq but said he wanted to first consult with former chief weapons inspector David Kay.

Trying to quiet mounting election-year criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike, Bush said he would name an independent, bipartisan inquiry into the Iraq problem and gaps in other areas, such as secretive regimes like Iran and North Korea and stateless groups such as terrorists.

Bush defended his decision to go to war based on intelligence that Kay now says was erroneous. Kay has concluded that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction. “We do know that Saddam Hussein had the intent and capabilities to cause great harm,” Bush said, talking to reporters after meeting with his Cabinet. “We know he was a danger. And he was not only a danger to people in the free world, he was a danger to his own people. He slaughtered thousands of people, imprisoned people.”

“What we don’t know yet is what we thought and what the Iraqi Survey Group has found, and we want to look at that,” the president said. “But we also want to look at our war against proliferation and weapons of mass destruction, kind of in a broader context. And so, I’m putting together an independent, bipartisan commission to analyze where we stand, what we can do better as we fight this war against terror. I want to know all the facts.” British Prime Minister Tony Blair will announce soon how he intends to deal with calls for an inquiry into the intelligence used by the government to the war, his office said yesterday in London.