The Pentagon's inspector general has agreed to review the prewar intelligence activities of former U.S. defense undersecretary Douglas J. Feith, a main architect of the Iraq war, congressional officials said yesterday.
News of the Defense Department investigation comes at a time of debate over whether President Bush misled the American people with prewar intelligence. The increasingly bitter dispute has pitted the president and his top advisers against lawmakers, including some from Bush's Republican Party.
Democrats have accused Feith of manipulating information from sources including Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi to suggest links between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, which masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Bush and other top administration officials cited alleged ties between Iraq and al Qaeda as a justification for military action. The Sept. 11 commission reported that no collaborative relationship existed between the two.
The inspector general's office informed the Senate on Oct. 19 that it would undertake the review.
