The CIA and other intelligence agencies are reviewing the accuracy of their pre-war views of Iraq, including claims of a large-scale programme to develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
A senior intelligence official described a self-evaluation that would naturally follow an undertaking as large as a war. The official said much of it would have to wait until American authorities had time to fully explore Iraq and determine what was there.
The focus of the review, decided before the war, will be on answering the questions: "How did we do? What did we get right? What didn't we get right?" said the official.
The review comes at a time when the Bush administration faces increasing questions about the validity of the intelligence used to justify the invasion. This includes the portrayal of Iraq as having large stockpiles of chemical weapons, its capability to rapidly produce biological weapons and a research programme aimed at producing nuclear weapons.
Since Iraq fell to US and British forces, search teams have found only limited evidence that directly supports the administration's claims.
* IRAQ'S armed forces and the security organisations that supported Saddam Hussein's regime have been dissolved, and a new defence force will be set up to replace them, the country's US-led administration said today.
Meanwhile the eighth most-wanted Iraqi was in US custody today after being tracked down, despite a reported fake death notice.
US forces captured Aziz Saleh al-Numan, the highest-ranking arrest on the list of the 55 most-wanted Iraqis.
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