US media Uranium claims exposed
The White House has acknowledged that its claim that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Africa to restart its nuclear programme was based on false information.
The claim had been included in President George W Bush's State of the Union Address earlier this year as he made the case for war against Iraq.
The White House's National Security Council has argued that at the time the speech was made it was believed the claims were true.
Before the war on Iraq, both Mr Bush and British PM Tony Blair claimed Iraq had recently sought significant amounts of uranium from Africa and that there were documents to prove it.
In March, however, the then chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix told the UN that the documents purporting to represent a transaction between Iraq and the African country of Niger were in fact forged.
But both governments stood behind their claim.
Now the White House National Security Council says it too has learned that the documents were forged.
It says the claims should not have been included in the President's State of the Union Address last January. But it argues that at the time the speech was made the White House believed the claims to be true.
All this had refuelled the controversy over Iraqs' alleged weapons of mass destruction. Three months after the war none have yet been found.
This latest controversy has caused a strong reaction from Democrats. Presidential candidate Dick Gephardt of Missouri says he believes that there is more to this than a simple intelligence failure and has called for an investigation.
