Bush under fire over Iraq claims

BBC -- Democrats have called for a full investigation into the use of intelligence about Iraqi weapons by the United States administration.

On Tuesday the White House acknowledged that allegations that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from the African state of Niger were based on forged documents.

But in a press conference in South Africa on Wednesday, Mr Bush brushed aside a question about whether he believed the allegations were accurate when he highlighted them in January.

The senior Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, John D Rockefeller, said he was not surprised the White House had been forced to admit the uranium allegations were false.

"The whole world knew it was a fraud," he said, adding that his committee should determine how the report found its way into the State of Union speech.

Congressman Dick Gephardt - who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 2004 - also called for a wider investigation.

"President Bush's factual lapse in his State of the Union address cannot be simply dismissed as an intelligence failure," he said.