Iraq report secrecy draws criticism

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee says he's disappointed the White House is trying to keep secret parts of a report on the run-up to the Iraq war.

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said the intelligence panel had finished two-thirds of its investigation of pre-war intelligence failures, and he criticized the Bush administration for attempting to classify a large section of the report dealing with the role the Iraqi National Congress, an exile group, played in building the case for a U.S. invasion, the New York Times reported.

"I have been disappointed by this administration's unwillingness to declassify material contained in these reports, material which I believe informs the public, but that -- I repeat, does not -- jeopardize intelligence operations, sources and methods," Roberts said in a statement Thursday.

The Times said one completed section of the committee report contains tough criticism of information provided by Iraqi exiles that made it into U.S. government intelligence reports. The second part of the report reportedly compares assessments of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs and links to terrorism with what U.S. troops have learned since the war began.