Under fire, Blair agrees to Iraq weapons probe

British Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday announced a parliamentary inquiry into the case his government made for attacking Iraq as he sought to crush claims he hyped up weapons evidence to justify war.

Blair, accused of pressing intelligence agents to "sex up" a dossier on Iraq's arms programmes, pledged to co-operate with the probe by parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee.

"Rather than having allegations made by anonymous sources - allegations that are completely untrue - if people have the evidence, let them present it" to the committee, Blair said.

But sceptics, some from his own Labour Party, accused Blair of fudging an inquiry, given that the committee answers to him.

The opposition Liberal Democrats, saying Blair's credibility was on the line, moved a motion calling for an independent probe, but Labour's huge parliamentary majority meant that motion was defeated by 301 to 203 votes.

Blair risked his premiership and split his party by defying public opinion to send troops into Iraq, but he appeared to have emerged unscathed after Saddam Hussein's swift fall.

The failure however to discover any of Iraq's suspected chemical, biological or nuclear weapons - the original Anglo-American motive for war - has put him back in the dock.

The row over Saddam's weapons exploded after the BBC last week cited an anonymous intelligence source as saying Blair's office pressed intelligence services to include a claim that Iraq's weapons could be deployed within 45 minutes.

The heated debate took a new twist yesterday after senior government minister John Reid accused "rogue elements" in the security services of seeking to undermine the government.

Blair's office said it stood by Reid's comments but noticeably declined to repeat them. His remarks raised more questions from legislators about the reliability of the intelligence agencies and the need for an in-depth inquiry.