Opposition Labor Party leader Simon Crean said the British report underscored concerns the three governments used faulty or misleading intelligence concerning Iraq's weapons programs to justify the war.

And he said the issue raised worrying questions about the Australian intelligence community's ability to effectively combat terrorism.

Crean notably chided Prime Minister John Howard for repeating incorrect US reports about ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's alleged attempts to develop nuclear weapons.

"I think we have got to get to the bottom of this because Australians want a prime minister who tells the truth," Crean said.

"And they will make that judgment based on the evidence that comes before our inquiry," he said, referring to parliamentary hearings due to begin next month into the government's handling of the war.

Howard on Tuesday denied basing his decision to send 2,000 troops to war in Iraq purely on US or British arguments, saying all intelligence reports on Iraq's weapons were assessed independently by local agencies.

"It is true that we relied overwhelmingly on both British and American intelligence (but) we made our own assessments," he said.

"Necessarily it was based on judgment but I don't retreat from the decision we took," he said, adding, "I don't believe that the intelligence agencies deliberately set out to mislead us."

"I am satisfied and I know and I repeat that it was the judgment of the intelligence agencies that in those terms a strong case (for going to war) existed that was convincing to us," he said.

But Crean countered that the problems surrounding Iraq -- where no concrete evidence of banned weapons has yet been found -- raised broader questions about Australia's intelligence abilities.

"Intelligence gathering is our most effective weapon against terrorists, tracking them down," he said.

"We have to be convinced that we are not only getting the best information in, but it is being assessed and communicated in a way in which the politicians, the government, responds most effectively."

His comments followed a British House of Commons inquiry that found the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair had given undue prominence to claims Iraq could deploy chemical or biological weapons within 45 minutes.

While the inquiry said it believed the Blair government had not misled the public over the threats posed by Iraq, it called on him to explain the headline-grabbing "45 minute" scenario.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer meanwhile said he was confident the Australian parliamentary inquiry, like its British counterpart, would find the government had not acted irresponsably over the Iraq war.

"It'll only come to the same conclusion," he said.

"The House of Commons committee has put beyond debate now this allegation that our government somehow doctored intelligence in order to put up a false case," he said.

The Australian probe began taking submissions last week and is scheduled to hold its first hearings late next month.

WAR.WIRE