Washington ? U.S. intelligence agencies warned senior members of the Bush administration in early 2003 that invading Iraq could create internal conflict that would give Iran and al-Qaida new opportunities to expand their influence, according to an upcoming Senate report.

Officials familiar with the Senate Intelligence Committee investigation also say analysts warned against U.S. domination in the region, which could increase extremist recruiting. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the report’s declassification is not finished. It could be made public as soon as this week.

The committee also found that the warnings predicting what would happen after the U.S.-led invasion were circulated widely in government, including to the Defense Department and the Office of the Vice President. It wasn’t clear whether President Bush was briefed.

Asked to comment on Wednesday evening, the White House’s National Security Council did not directly respond to the report’s findings that intelligence analysts predicted many of the troubles ahead in Iraq before the invasion.

Spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Iran must stop providing training and weapons to fighters there. “We also continue to take the fight to al-Qaida, who are trying to destabilize Iraq and create a safe haven to plan attacks on the U.S. and our allies,” he added.

The report comes as the administration is facing renewed criticism for failing to execute adequate post-invasion plans to stabilize Iraq after Saddam Hussein was toppled. Meanwhile, the White House has been trying to make the case that Iraq cannot be abandoned.

Since 2003, the Senate committee – led by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and now Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. – has been trudging through its investigation of what went wrong, frequently slowed by politics.

While the first phase of its report was supported unanimously just before the 2004 presidential elections, the newer findings on the intelligence community’s predictions about postwar Iraq have drawn dissent from Republicans. Details on the committee’s vote have not yet been released.