Before the closed-door briefing, lawmakers said they hoped to get closer to the truth of how the statement made its way into Bush's State of the Union address in January.

The panel's top Democrat, Senator John Rockefeller, said the major issue was not just the allegation that Iraq tried to acquire nuclear material from Niger -- a claim long refuted by US intelligence -- but the intent of those in the administration who repeated it, and cleared the president to repeat it, in the key speech to the nation.

"Was there any attempt to take what was either accurate or inaccurate intelligence and shape it in a way which helped the president makes his case that he wanted to go into Iraq?" Rockefeller asked.

"It's an integrated investigation. We're looking not just at the intelligence but also the way it made its way up to the policymakers," the West Virginia Democrat said.

"There has to be an accountability on this," he said before the briefing.

Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine told reporters that lawmakers were keen to hear Tenet's side of the story.

"It's absolutely vital that we ascertain the truth," she said.

"It's inconceivable to me that we cannot retrace the steps in this whole process and put all the pieces of the puzzle together," she said, adding it is "in the vital interest of our national security and the credibility of America."

"Many questions will need to be answered," Snowe said. "We're going to have to evaluate all the inconsistencies and the contradictions to make sure we understand exactly how confident in our intelligence we can be in the future, based on what we did in the past."

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said voters in his home state of Oregon had expressed concern that the administration exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq to justify the US-led invasion.

"What my constituents are concerned about is, in effect, making political decisions and then in effect, looking to find facts that would support those political decisions. That's what I want to explore today," he said.

He also hoped to determine whether the flawed information was an isolated incident or part of a broader intelligence problem.

I'm certainly troubled at this point about the pattern that seems to be emerging," Wyden said, "but that's why I'm going to the hearing, to make an effort to see if we can look at that in some detail.

"We want to have details on how these decisions were made. It shapes up to me as something of a battle between the CIA staff and the White House staff with respect to how decisions were made initially, but that's what we're going to inquire into," Wyden said.

North Carolina Democrat John Edwards, said that in his view, the hearing was less about establishing Tenet's culpability, and rather about "the credibility of the president of the United States."

"When the president speaks, he speaks on behalf of the American people," said Edwards, one of nine Democrats seeking their party's nomination to oppose Bush in next year's elections.

"When he speaks, has to take responsibility for what he says," Edwards said.

Meanwhile senate Democrats on Wednesday outlined their proposal for an independent, bicameral commission to probe the Iraq intelligence controversy.

Under Democrats' plan, the panel would consist of 12 lawmakers with experience in intelligence, governmental service, armed services, and other relevant areas.

The top Republican and top Democrat of both chambers of Congress would each appoint three members of the commission, Democrat lawmakers said.

From the Senate floor Wednesday, Democratic leader Tom Daschle praised the work of the Intelligence committee in meeting with Tenet, but pushed for the independent panel.

"The real question is, how do we ascertain the facts in the most logical and the most bipartisan manner," Daschle said.

"The only way to ensure that that is done ... is through this independent approach."

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