Friday October 31, 2003 1:31 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) - Three top Bush administration officials must provide
documents and schedule interviews in order to provide information to a
Senate committee on prewar intelligence on Iraq, according to a letter
signed by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts.

Roberts, R-Kan., and top Democrat Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia
wrote the letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld, and national security adviser Condoleeza Rice
complaining that their agencies were moving too slow.

A similar letter was sent Wednesday to CIA Director George Tenet.

``We must take whatever steps are necessary to assure our nation that
U.S. intelligence is accurate and unbiased,'' Thursday's letters said.
``The credibility of the government with its people and the nation
with the world is at stake.''

A White House spokesman said the administration was ``surprised by the
substance and tone of the letter.'' The White House has been assisting
the committee in its review of intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction, he said.

``The White House has made NSC (National Security Council) staffers
available to meet with committee investigators and has provided
committee investigators access to relevant documents even though the
committee does not have jurisdiction over the White House,'' the
spokesman said.

``Neither Dr. Rice nor the White House has objected to allowing the
committee access to CIA documents sent to the White House. In fact,
White House lawyers made copies of these documents available to
committee investigators last summer.''

A Defense Department spokesman said the Pentagon is in the process of
answering the letter.

There was no immediate comment from the State Department.

Roberts told reporters Thursday ``there's no real serious
repercussions'' if the deadline cannot be met, but he hopes they would
respond by at least Monday or Tuesday.

The committee is examining the quality of U.S. intelligence on Iraq's
weapons programs and its connections to terrorism. Democrats have been
pressing for a broader inquiry to examine whether the Bush
administration manipulated the intelligence to make the case for war.

--
'A people living under the perpetual menace of war and invasion is
very
easy to govern. It demands no social reforms. It does not haggle over
expenditures on armaments and military equipment. It pays without
discussion, it ruins itself, and that is an excellent thing for the
syndicates of financiers and manufacturers for whom patriotic terrors
are
an abundant source of gain.'
                           Anatole France
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-
"...too many whites are getting away with drug use."
       -- Rush Limbaugh, on his short lived TV show
          October 5, 1995

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