W House considers declassifying intelligence report

WASHINGTON, Sep 26 (Reuters) The Bush administration said today it may declassify an intelligence report in order to respond to Democrats who say the document shows the Iraq war has been a distraction from the war on terrorism. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said officials were ''giving serious consideration'' to releasing the National Intelligence Estimate on the US terrorism threat to demonstrate that the section being seized on by Democrats is only one part of the overall picture.

The report, part of which was leaked to the media, has become an issue in the runup to Nov. 7 mid-term elections when control of both houses of Congress is at stake.

Part of the report said US intelligence agencies have concluded the Iraq war has made the worldwide threat from Islamist extremists more dangerous.

It has inspired their growing militant movement and created a ready source of anti-American rhetoric, current and former intelligence officials familiar with the document say.

Mr Perino said one paragraph in the lengthy report was ''wildly taken out of context'' and that some officials believe the whole document, provided to the US Congress in April, should be released to put that paragraph in context.

Democrats hoping to overturn Republican control of the US Congress quickly latched on to the issue to charge that Bush's pursuit of the Iraq war was a distraction from the overall war on terrorism.

Senator. Pat Roberts of Kansas, Republican chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, urged the administration yesterday to declassify the document so Americans could reach their own conclusions.

REUTERS BDP RK2055