WASHINGTON, July 19: The White House acknowledged on Friday that US President George W. Bush used a British claim that Iraq had sought uranium from Africa even after the US State Department labelled the charge “highly dubious.”

The caveat was part of an annex to the 90-page National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq, compiled in October 2002 from six US intelligence agencies, including the department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR).

“In the view of most agencies, Baghdad is reconstituting its nuclear weapons programme,” according to the NIE, which cited “compelling evidence” that Iraq was pursuing effort to obtain enriched uranium for atomic arms.

The White House released portions of the NIE as part of an aggressive effort to counter mounting questions following its admission that Bush should not have included the allegation in his January 28 State of the Union speech.

A senior administration official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said Bush did not know of the warning before his speech to the nation, in which he passionately made the case for going to war with Iraq.

The aide also repeatedly described the INR concerns as being part of a mere “footnote” on page 84 of the document, and noted that the NIE’s central conclusions warned of a pending nuclear threat from Saddam Hussein’s regime.

“If left unchecked, it (Iraq) probably will have a nuclear weapon during this decade,” the declassified portion of the document said in the opening to its “key judgments” section.

But immediately after that, the NIE directs readers to “See INR alternative view at the end of these Key Judgments.”

At issue is a boiling controversy over Bush’s claim that “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”

The White House has noted that Britain stands by the claim, and has said it may turn out to be true, but says it should not have been included in the speech because it was based on one source. CIA Director George Tenet has taken the blame for not culling the allegation from the speech during the normal “vetting” process.

The NIE says that “a foreign government service” reported that, as of early 2001, Niger planned to ship several tons of uranium to Iraq in a deal that could cover up to 500 tons of uranium “yellowcake.”

It also cites reports that Iraq “has sought uranium ore from Somalia and possibly the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

But the INR, in a separate passage, concluded that “the claims of Iraqi pursuit of natural uranium in Africa are, in INR’s assessment, highly dubious.”—AFP