October 31, 2003	Friday	Ramazan 4, 1424

WASHINGTON, Oct 30: Top lawmakers on the US Senate’s intelligence committee said on Wednesday that CIA director George Tenet appear in person before the panel, which is investigating shortcomings in Washington’s pre-war intelligence on Iraq.

“We strongly believe that, at a time determined by the committee, you must appear in person,” chairman Pat Roberts, a Republican, and Vice Chairman John Rockefeller, a Democrat, wrote in their letter.

They made their request in a letter that was a response to correspondence from Mr Tenet sent last Friday, reiterating his willingness to have top CIA officials appear before the committee.

The lawmakers wrote that they “welcome your offer”, but require Mr Tenet’s own input before issuing a report of their investigation.

“Until the day that you appear before the committee, we ask ... that you and your staff focus on ensuring that you have provided our staff with every document and interview that has been requested,” Rockefeller and Roberts wrote.

The lawmakers also called on the CIA director to “expedite our access to the current list of outstanding document and interview requests”, adding that “some of these requests have gone unanswered since July”.

The intelligence committee is also seeking “an explanation of the various disconnects and inconsistencies in the assessments concerning the Niger uranium issue which you and the Central Intelligence Agency communicated to policymakers in both intelligence products and conversations”.

According to recent news reports, a preliminary version of the report faults the Central Intelligence Agency for overstating the weapons case against Iraq.—AFP