Classified Iraq Data Released

The excerpts suggest that the CIA and other agencies were more concerned than they have previously acknowledged that the build-up to war might provoke Saddam Hussein to attempt terrorist strikes in the United States.

The report says Iraq "probably would attempt clandestine attacks against the U.S. homeland if Baghdad feared an attack." It goes on to say that Hussein was likely to use biological weapons for such strikes and order his intelligence service to carry them out.

The release was part of a new effort by the White House to emphasize its broader case against Iraq, and take attention off the now-disputed claim President Bush made in his State of the Union speech that Baghdad was seeking uranium from Africa.

But the newly declassified material also underscored some questions about that charge because the text indicates that there was considerable doubt in the intelligence community about the uranium allegations before Bush's Jan. 28 speech.

The excerpts also include wording that seems to undercut Bush administration claims before the war that Hussein had links to Al Qaeda. The report makes clear that the intelligence community believed cooperation with the terrorist network would represent an extreme step for Hussein.

"Saddam, if sufficiently desperate, might decide that only an organization such as Al Qaeda" could help him strike America, the report said. The scenario was presented in the context of the build-up to war.

The release of the material was the latest development in a feud between the CIA and the White House over who is to blame for Bush's uranium allegation. CIA Director George J. Tenet has acknowledged that his agency, in vetting the president's speech, should have ordered the wording removed.

But in testimony this week on Capitol Hill, CIA officials told senators that the agency raised objections to the language because of concerns about the underlying intelligence, and finally assented only when the White House proposed attributing the charge to British intelligence.