Panel Set to Release Just Part of Report On Run-Up to War

Roberts was emphatic yesterday that the chapter on Iraqi exiles "is a rather old story." The INC's efforts to influence U.S. policy in Iraq date to the early years of the Clinton administration and affected not just the White House but also Congress, he said.

"The allegation that the Bush administration was the first to discover and utilize the INC was simply not true," Roberts said. "It went way back."

Chalabi and the INC had strong supporters in the Bush administration, he conceded, but their biases and motives were widely understood. Ultimately, Chalabi had little to no influence on the critical administration document that convinced many policymakers that Saddam Hussein's weapons program presented a clear threat, Roberts said.

"The whole thing has been a colossal waste of time," said Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.), another committee member.

Democratic aides disagreed with Roberts's characterization of the conclusions. Chalabi and senior members of the INC wanted the United States to depose Hussein in hopes that they could seize control of a new Iraqi government, and their efforts to influence intelligence did shape the critical National Intelligence Estimate, the aides said.

Roberts kept the investigation narrowly targeted to the exiles' influence on the intelligence process, beating back Democratic efforts to examine INC contacts with policymakers, the aides said. So the report is silent on Chalabi's efforts to sway Congress and individuals in the Bush administration.

Still, the report should make waves, they said. Democrats are already using Chalabi in their attacks on Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, painting the secretary as a gullible dupe to an ambitious con man.

"The U.S. government spent a lot of money on the INC," Feinstein said. "I think it is a very important report."