CIA was wrong on Iraqi 'mobile labs': Powell

"I'm very concerned," he said in reply to a question on the NBC programme "Meet the Press" about having used claims in a UN Security Council speech now known to have been "inaccurate and discredited."

"When I made that presentation in February 2003, it was based on the best information that the Central Intelligence Agency made available to me," he said.

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Last month, Powell described the assertions he made about the purported labs as "the most dramatic" element of his Feb. 5, 2003, speech. He acknowledged on April 2 the information was suspect but stopped short of drawing any public conclusions.

In his comments on NBC, Powell went further.

"It turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and, in some cases, deliberately misleading. And for that, I am disappointed, and I regret it," he said.