Intelligence row a 'bunch of bull' says White House

The White House has drawn a line under charges that President George Bush used disputed intelligence to justify the invasion …

The White House has drawn a line under charges that President George Bush used disputed intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq.

It is just a "bunch of bull" said presidential spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer, adding there was no need to delve further into the matter.

"As far as the president's concerned, he's moved on. I think the bottom has been gotten to," said Mr Fleischer.

Mr Bush used British information in his State of the Union address when he said Iraq sought to buy uranium from Africa for its nuclear weapons programme.

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The White House acknowledged that the accusation should not have been in the speech.

"This revisionist notion that somehow this is now the core of why we went to war, a central issue in why we went to war, a fundamental underpinning of the president's decisions, is a bunch of bull," Mr Fleischer said.

There can be no doubt in anybody's mind Iraq pursued nuclear weapons prior to the war," he said.

CIA Director George Tenet took responsibility for his agency's approval of the speech which contained the uranium claim.

White House officials insist that the British intelligence was not inaccurate, just unproven by the United States. "No one can accurately tell you that it was wrong. That is not known," Mr Fleischer said.

"The president said that Iraq was seeking uranium in Africa. That still may be absolute fact."

Mr Fleischer dismissed any suggestion that Bush misled the American public about the threat posed by Iraq.

"That's absolute, total nonsense. The president said something that was based on the information that was available to date. In hindsight, we have said that it should not have risen to the president's level and that's exactly what we have reported to the American people," he said.