The team delivered an initial draft of its report to top presidential advisors on around July 10, while US President George W. Bush was touring Africa, but Bush never saw it, the paper said.

"The Pentagon squashed it," the Times quoted an administration official as saying. "It was way too strong for their liking."

Officials at the the US defence department said the team had exceeded its authority and asked for a rewrite, the Times said.

It quoted Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita as saying the specialists "weren't asked to advise on a 'go' or 'no go' decision" but only to assess the situation in Liberia, as the civil war there reached a crititical stage.

Another Pentagon official told the Times the withdrawal of the report had been "inconsistent with our operational procedures" but denied there had been a cover-up.

A revised report was submitted on July 16, with less specific language on whether the United States should provide an emergency force to Liberia or support a West African-led peacekeeping force, the Times said.

Two hundred Marines were sent to Monrovia Thursday, five weeks after the initial report.

They arrived after Charles Taylor had stepped down as president and West African peacekeepers had been deployed -- two conditions Washington had set down before agreeing to US involvement.

"The US squandered their opportunity," Robert Warwick, West Africa director for the International Rescue Committee, told the Times. "An earlier intervention would have stemmed the loss of more than a thousand lives from fighting and illnesses, and the looting of food and supplies."

Another defense official, who asked not to be named, said: "You have to know your boss' intent before you develop a plan that fits his intentions. No one wants the perception of the US being in the lead in Liberia."

WAR.WIRE