"The American public, the Congress of the United States and especially the families and loved ones of the over 200 brave service men and women who have died in Iraq deserve nothing less than full and public hearings on the false and misleading statements this Administration used to send our nation into war," the Ohio Democrat said in a statement.

"Closed door testimony today by the director of the Central Intelligence Agency is simply unacceptable," he said, calling for "a real congressional inquiry."

Tenet, who was to brief members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, took the blame last week for President George W. Bush's discredited prewar claim that Iraq had tried to buy nuclear material from Africa.

Kucinich said a thorough public investigation of the controversy is needed to learn the facts of how the bogus intelligence made its way into the president's state of the union address earlier this year.

"It is clear, in the lead-up to war against Iraq, the administration from the top on down orchestrated a campaign of false and misleading statements to persuade the Congress of the United States and American public to support a war against Iraq."

"There is no more grave decision a nation must make than to send our troops into war," said Kucinich.

"To not fully and publicly investigate whether this grave decision was made under false and misleading pretenses would be a great disservice to the American public and devastating blow to the credibility of this Administration and our nation."

WAR.WIRE