Washington, DC - Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee announced yesterday plans to stage their own inquiry on the credibility of prewar intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and its links to the Al Qaeda terror network.

The announcement by Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the panel's top Democrat, marked an unusual split with chairman John Warner, Republican of Virginia, on an issue with strong political overtones ahead of next year's elections. Warner and Levin are longtime colleagues on the committee and repeatedly stress bipartisan cooperation.

Democrats in both the House and Senate have been pushing for widened examinations of prewar intelligence beyond reviews already underway by both bodies' intelligence committees.

Levin said he has directed Democratic staff to examine the objectivity and credibility of the intelligence and its effect on Defense Department policy decisions, military planning, and operations in Iraq.

He said Warner refused his request to begin such an inquiry. In a letter released by Levin, Warner said the committee should wait until the Senate Intelligence Committee has completed its review, then decide how to move ahead. Both Levin and Warner are members of the intelligence panel.

The Armed Services Committee, meanwhile, will continue oversight hearings on military operations in Iraq, Warner said in the letter. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld will appear before the panel the week of July 7.

Warner said Levin's review is ''clearly your prerogative'' and said his staff may work periodically with Levin's.

In a statement, Warner's press secretary, John Ullyot, said the committee has held four hearings on the weapons and intelligence issues and will hold more, in addition to the Intelligence Committee review. ''Senator Levin is welcome to direct his own staff to look into these matters as well,'' he said.

Levin and Warner will be traveling together next week to Iraq and the Middle East, along with the leaders of the Intelligence Committee and other senators.

The prewar intelligence has been called into question both nationally and abroad because of the military's inability to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.