US congressional leaders on Friday said President George W. Bush had to present more evidence to support his claim that Iraq presented an immediate threat to the country before they could agree to any attack.Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, told NBC television’s Today show that the first closed-door briefing for lawmakers with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld this week was only a start.‘‘Some of our questions were answered but there are a lot more out there that need to be addressed before we can make any conclusive decision on what needs to be done,’’ Daschle said.Daschle, Minority Leader Sen. Trent Lott, House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert, and House Minority Leader Rep. Dick Gephardt appeared on morning news shows before joining colleagues for a special joint session of Congress in New York marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.Gephardt and Hastert told CNN that Thursday’s briefing presented some new information but did not fundamentally change the threatening picture they already had of the situation. Lawmakers said making a detailed case and strategy for an attack and building support for it both at home and abroad would be key to the success of any military mission.‘‘We know they have weapons of mass destruction . We need to make that case to the Americans and our friends around the world,’’ Hastert said. ‘‘The bottomline is that we have to have this debate.’’
