WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A commission set up by President Bush (news - web sites) will begin examining the quality of U.S. intelligence on weapons of mass destruction next week with a look at claims that triggered the war against Iraq (news - web sites), a spokesman said on Thursday.

The bipartisan commission, headed by former Virginia governor and senator Charles Robb, a Democrat, and appeals court judge Laurence Silberman, a Republican, will compare prewar intelligence about weapons in Iraq with on-site investigations since then, which have so far failed to find evidence of a WMD program.

Unlike the hearings of the "9/11 Commission" probing the Sept. 11 attacks, the WMD panel's sessions will be closed to the public because so much of the material is classified and sensitive. The WMD commission has not yet decided if its final report, due at the end of March 2005, will be made public.