05 February 2004	Thursday	13 Zilhaj 1424

BAGHDAD, Feb 4: US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have announced an independent inquiry into pre-war intelligence on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Announcing the decision on Monday, the Bush administration also announced a seven per cent increase in defence spending, but acknowledged the hike did not include any allocation for Iraq, which it said was impossible to project amid the persistent resistance dogging the US-led occupation.

In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair also bowed to pressure by announcing on Tuesday an inquiry into the quality of British intelligence, but his opponents said its terms were so narrow it would let the government off the hook.

Britain's third party, the Liberal Democrats, said they would take no part in the investigation after Mr Blair refused to allow it to probe the politics behind the decision to wage war.

After the announcement, Mr Bush told reporters as he met his cabinet at the White House that he was creating "an independent, bipartisan commission to analyse where we stand".

Mr Bush had previously avoided growing calls for an independent probe, saying US arms inspectors should finish their work and insisting the Iraq invasion had removed a "danger" to the United States and the world.

But pressure has mounted since former chief US arms inspector David Kay resigned and told US lawmakers last week that he believed Iraq did not possess chemical, biological or nuclear weapons at the time of last year's invasion.

David Kay said that massive intelligence failures led to the mistaken belief Iraq had such arms in violation of UN sanctions, and called for an independent investigation.

With George Bush facing re-election in November, his Democratic rivals have seized on the intelligence failures, demanding an independent probe to determine where the blame lies and whether the intelligence services need reform.

BRITAIN'S DECISION: The investigation announced by the Blair government will focus exclusively on problems with the information gleaned by spies.

"I think it is right...that we have a look at the intelligence that we received and whether it was accurate or not," Mr Blair told a parliamentary committee. "We do not in my view need an inquiry into the political decision to go to war."

Until now, Mr Blair has firmly resisted calls for an inquiry.-Reuters