Faked documents used to justify Iraq war were not checked closely at the t

WASHINGTON (AP) Documents alleging Iraq sought uranium from Africa were obtained months before President Bush cited them in making his case for war, but intelligence analysts did not look at them closely enough to know they were forgeries until after Bush had made the claim, U.S. officials say.

U.S. officials offered new information Thursday on the trail of the documents, which purported to show Iraq tried to obtain uranium from the African country of Niger for its weapons programs. Their account suggested a disconnect between the CIA and the State Department over the handling of what turned out to be a crucial but faulty piece of intelligence used to make the Bush administration's case for war.

Officials acknowledged that had U.S. intelligence analyzed the documents sooner, they could have discovered the forgeries before the information was used as fodder for Bush administration statements vilifying Iraq.

The State Department said Thursday it obtained the documents in the fall of 2002, but intelligence officials said the CIA didn't get them until the following February. The State Department said it made them available to other agencies in the government shortly after acquiring them; officials could not explain why the CIA did not get copies of them sooner.

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