US: A Democratic senator claimed yesterday that CIA director Mr George Tenet had told members of Congress that a White House official had insisted on including in a presidential speech a disputed allegation about Saddam Hussein's push for a nuclear weapon.
The allegation, by Illinois Democrat Sen Dick Durbin, was quickly denounced by White House spokesman Mr Scott McClellan, who called it "nonsense", in the latest cross-fire between the Republican White House and Democrats on Capitol Hill over the issue.
Sen Durbin told ABC's Good Morning America programme that Mr Tenet had told the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed-door session on Wednesday that a White House official had pushed for including a line about Iraq's attempt to get uranium from Africa in President Bush's State of the Union speech last January.
"He certainly told us who the person was who was insistent on putting this language in which the CIA knew to be incredible, this language about the uranium shipment from Africa. And there was this negotiation between the White House and the CIA about just how far you could go and be close to the truth," Sen Durbin said.
Mr McClellan denied the charge and pointed out that Sen Durbin had opposed the war.
"I think that characterisation is nonsense. It's not surprising coming from someone who is in a rather small minority in Congress that did not support the action that we took," he said.
The White House position has been that President Bush's speech was sent to the CIA for review before it was delivered, and that if the CIA had taken issue with the uranium line, it should have asked that it be deleted.
"The whole idea that the threat posed by Saddam Hussein was not real is something that was never under debate previously, and I think this is an attempt by some to continue to rewrite history," Mr McClellan said.
Sen Durbin would not name the person, whose name emerged in the secret hearing, but a US official said a National Security Council expert on weapons of mass destruction, Mr Robert Joseph, was involved in discussions with the CIA about the speech. "It wasn't Tenet who named anyone, but in response to questioning, other agency officials said that the conversations were with Robert Joseph of the National Security Council staff," a US official said on condition of anonymity.
Sen Durbin's statement reflected a continuing effort by Democrats seeking to stop Mr Bush from being re-elected in 2004 to keep the White House on the defensive by pushing charges that the President misled the American people on the need to overthrow Saddam.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen John Kerry quickly jumped into the fray by saying he was troubled that "there may have been direct political pressure exerted on the CIA to exaggerate" Mr Bush's nuclear claim.
"This is just more evidence that ... President Bush must support a full and independent investigation so that the American people know the full truth."
Many Americans are increasingly concerned about the continuing US military mission in Iraq, where guerrilla attacks are killing about one US soldier a day.
The White House, usually disciplined on its message, has not reacted nimbly in this instance, first saying the uranium charge was wrong and then saying it had not been proven to be wrong.