US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice urged the Democratic-controlled US Congress not to interfere in the conduct of the Iraq war and suggested President George Bush would defy troop withdrawal legislation.

A “very damning” report by the US Defence Department’s inspector general depicts a Pentagon that purposely manipulated intelligence in an effort to link Saddam Hussein to al-Qaida in the run-up to the US-led invasion of Iraq, says the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

There is no evidence deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein had a relationship with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his al-Qaida associates, according to a US Senate report on pre-war intelligence on Iraq.

US officials in Iraq have solid evidence of weapons of mass destruction programmes and details probably will be released soon, two leading Senate Republicans said today after returning from the country.