The announcement by Senate Majority leader Bill Frist in a floor speech Friday capped a heated political row in the upper congressional chamber triggered by a leaked Democratic memorandum outlining a strategy for using the probe for political gain.

"At this moment of peril in our nations history, as our intelligence agencies and our armed forces in the Middle East are at war against our mortal enemies, those responsible for this memo appear to be more focused on winning the White House than they are on winning the war against terror," thundered the Tennessee Republican.

He demanded that the author of the document, presumed to be a member of the Democratic staff on the Senate Intelligence Committee, step forward and identify himself or herself -- and the intended recipient of the memo.

Committee Democrats are also being asked to disavow what Frist called "this partisan attack" on the panel's integrity.

Fris said the author must also issue a personal apology to committee chairman Pat Roberts for "the manipulative tone and injurious content of this document."

"Only with the fulfillment of the three steps mentioned above will it be possible for the committee to resume its work in an effective and bipartisan manner -- a manner deserving of the confidence of other members of the Senate and the Executive Branch," the majority leader concluded.

The inquiry, which has never acquired the status of an official investigation, grew out of the failure by the administration of President George W. Bush to discover weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, whose alleged presence in the country was used to justify the invasion.

In their queries, senators have been trying to determine whether the CIA and other US intelligence agencies seriously misjudged the importance of Iraqi clandestine weapons programs and whether members of the Bush administration deliberately hyped and twisted intelligence to suit their political goals.

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