Scarlett under fire as CIA bosses quit

Pressure on British intelligence to admit failures over Iraq intensified today after a second CIA chief involved in the war resigned.

Officials said the two resignations-were unconnected, but they pave the way for sweeping changes at the top of the spy agency.

Labour opponents of the war seized on the resignations as proof that the US was acknowledging its intelligence failures in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. In contrast to the American spy chiefs, John Scarlett, the Joint Intelligence Committee chairman, was promoted to head MI6 last month.

Former Labour defence minister Peter Kilfoyle today said Mr Scarlett had shown as much ineptitude as Mr Tenet over claims about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. "This reflects a differencein the two cultures. One one side of the Atlantic people rightly or wrongly are held responsible for a tragic mess like Iraq.

"But on our side of the Atlantic it seems as though the inner circle congratulate themselves and promote themselves," he said.

Despite denials by Mr Tenet that he had been forced out, it emerged last night that the CIA will be

heavily criticised by three reports into its failure to prevent the September 11 attacks and its handling of the Iraq war.

The most damaging report, due this month from the Senate Intelligence Committee, is expected to single out the CIA for passing flawed information to the White House about weapons of mass destruction. It is said to be so critical that Mr Tenet may have had no alternative but to quit.

An investigation by an independent commission into September 11 is also said to highlight the CIA's failure to realise the threat posed by al Qaeda. A third report, from the CIA's weapons investigator in Iraq, is expected to say that there is no sign of Saddam's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Friends of Mr Tenet say he is almost exhausted after steering the CIA through one of the most troubled periods in its history, and that he wants to spend more time with his wife and eldest son, who is entering his last year at school.

Sources also say Mr Bush asked Mr Tenet to stay until after November's presidential election but he refused. However, the resignation diverts blame for intelligence blunders away from the White House at a critical time in Mr Bush's reelection campaign.

Mr Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday praised Mr Tenet but kept the remarks noticeably brief. Senator Bob Graham, a former Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Mr Bush would be "at the crime scene as short as possible".