At a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, New York Senator Hillary Clinton expressed concern about "the quality, the accuracy and the use of intelligence" including the now-discredited claims of an Africa-Iraq link.

"In this new threat environment in which we find ourselves, we are increasingly reliant on intelligence," Clinton said.

"Of the lessons to be learned, that I hope we have learned, the thorough scrubbing and very careful analysis of intelligence has to be at the top of the list."

Rumsfeld testified that he had only recently learned the intelligence reports saying Iraq had tried to obtain processed uranium from Africa were bogus.

Asked by Democrat Mark Pryor of Arkansas whether he had ever received any communication saying the intelligence was flawed, Rumsfeld grew testy.

"I see hundreds and hundreds of pieces of paper a day. Is it conceivable that something was in a document? It's conceivable. Do I recall hearing anything, or reading anything like that? The answer is no."

He concurred, however, that the quality of intelligence is a potential US vulnerability.

"I agree completely on the importance of intelligence," Rumsfeld said.

"It's such a big, complicated world and there are so many areas that need to be looked at today -- unlike the Cold War period, when you could focus on the Soviet Union and develop a good deal of conviction about it.

"We're dealing with closed societies; we're dealing with countries that very skillfully use our advanced technologies."

In Pretoria, Bush deflected a question on whether he regretted highlighting the allegation in his State of the Union address in January.

"There is no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the world peace and there is no doubt in my mind the United States along with our allies and friends did the right thing in removing him from power," Bush said.

But the leader of Democrats in the Senate, Tom Daschle, again said the issue underscores the need for a full congressional investigation on US intelligence leading up to the war in Iraq.

"History hasn't been written yet. In fact, it's being written as we speak. And I think as we write history, we want to make sure we have the facts," the South Dakota senator said.

"The most important thing we can do in acquiring the facts is to get the best information. That's why I have said from the beginning, having a good, bipartisan investigation so that we know exactly what the facts are is critical to understanding and writing history the way it should be."

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