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US Senate reluctant to promise hearings on intelligence lies

he chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee on held out the possibility Sunday of open hearings in the panel's examination of the quality of prewar intelligence on Iraq's weap-ons of mass destruction and how it was used by the Bush administration.

But Republican Senator Pat Roberts would go no further than promising eventual public hearings "if we think that is warranted."

Senate Democrats have de-manded open hearings and a public report to be issued after the committee ends its review.

Roberts also said on CBS' Face the Nation that the committee would publish a secret report of its findings, but a public report probably would be released as well, another possible concession to Democrats.

The closed hearings of Roberts' committee will begin this week, handling the question of the information US President George W. Bush used to build a case for war against Iraq as routine oversight of the nation's intelligence services.

The format overrules Democratic members' demands for a more formal investigation with extensive questioning of wit-nesses about why weapons of mass destruction have not been found in Iraq and accusations that some evidence cited by the administration has proved false or misleading.

Last week, the Republicans suggested that such a probe could become politicized or harm national security and said they instead favored the routine oversight formula for hearings by the intelligence and armed services committees. The Senate Armed Services Committee already has begun closed hearings.

Senator Carl Levin, the top Democrat on Armed Services, expressed disappointment with the way his Republican colleagues are handling questions about Iraqi weapons intelligence.

"We need a thorough, bipartisan investigation," said Levin, also appearing on CBS.
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