Little evidence for Iraq WMDs ahead of 2003 war: U.S. declassified report

[sabra]

Source: ib times

Six months ahead of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the United States had little hard evidence and relied heavily on analytic assumptions and judgment in assessing what it knew about Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs, according to declassified U.S. intellilgence report.

The September 5, 2002 report from the Glen Shaffer, the Director of Intelligence - which was initially classified as "secret" - at the time showed the U.S. knew about Iraq's internal expertise in building nuclear weapons, biological weapons, chemical weapons and ballistic missiles.

The letter, which was declassified on January 6, 2011, was available on the website of former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is releasing a new book titled "Known and Unknown," which includes Rumsfeld's views on his life and career.

...

The group did not know the status of any nuclear enrichment facilities, centrifuge program development, or attempts by Iraq to purchase a nuclear weapon or know with confidence about the location of any nuclear weapon-related facilities.

"Our knowledge of the Iraqi nuclear weapons program is based largely - perhaps 90% - on analysis of imprecise intelligence," the report states.





Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/110099/20110208/iraq-wmd-evidence-donald-rumsfeld-george-bush.htm#

[boobooday]

1. "Known and Unknown"

OMG

:spray:

Many regular old people knew this. "Known by everyone but me," should be the title of his stupid memoir.

[Arctic Dave]

2. The word is, "stovepipe". nt

[ewagner]

3. So in Rummy's world

"absence of proof" means PROOF...enough to send over 4,000 U.S service personnel and god knows how many Iraqi civilians to their death...

[mike_c]

4. "relied heavily on analytic assumptions...."

Oh for Pete's sake. "Lied like a rug" is a less nuanced description.

[MilesColtrane]

5. "Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of...

terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy." -the Downing Street Memo, attributed to Dr. John Scarlett, Director of MI6

[leveymg]

6. Gen. Shaffer also included supportive Bible quotations with his daily intel briefs to Rummy.

There's the rational side of the brain, and then there's the not:

Practice of Biblical quotes headlining memos now ended in Pentagon

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30814527/

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Monday it no longer includes a Bible quote on the cover page of daily intelligence briefings it sends to the White House as was practice during the Bush administration.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said he did not know how long the Worldwide Intelligence Update cover sheets quoted from the Bible. Air Force Maj. Gen. Glen Shaffer, who was responsible for including them, retired in August 2003, according to his biography.

For a period in 2003, at least, the daily reports prepared for President George W. Bush carried quotes from the books of Psalms and Ephesians and the Gospel of Peter. At the time, the reports focused largely on the war in Iraq.

The Bible quotes apparently aimed to support Bush at a time when soldiers' deaths in Iraq were on the rise, according to the June issue of CQ magazine. But they offended at least one Muslim analyst at the Pentagon and worried other employees that the passages were inappropriate.

Video: Rumsfeld’s holy orders?

On Thursday, April 10, 2003, for example, the report quoted the book of Psalms — "Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him. ... To deliver their soul from death." — and featured pictures of the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down and celebrating crowds in Baghdad.

[jpak]

7. But...but...but....Colin gave that eloquent speech at the UN with lots of pretty pictures 'n all

republics would NEVER never lie to us

god would punish them

yup

[on point]

8. Where are the Prosecutions for War Crimes? Not prosecuting is a war crime itself Mr. President!

[Enthusiast]

18. PLUS ONE!

Obama is 'one of them'.

[No Elephants]

19. Not sure if it is a war crime, but I do know it is a violation of a treaty to which the U.S.

is a party. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_Against_Torture

IMO, it also does a helluva job on the Rule of Law and also disgraces us in our own eyes (many of us, anyway) and in the eyes of other nations, as well as undermining our moral authority and endangering us.

[Bandit]

9. What is now "known" is that millions of Iraqi people have been killed or misplaced from their homes.

And for the sole reason of making a few Wealthy Republicans even more wealthy..

[Jokinomx]

10. Is anyone going to tell Maj. Scott Ritter he was right... there were

no WMDs as the inspectors had indicated. He was screaming that all they needed was a few more months and they would prove it and the U.N. would see that Saddam had complied with U.N. demands and most likely would have lifted sanctions and the contract that Saddam had signed with Russia would ensure that very little Iraqi oil went west.

That is why gwb needed to go to war... because Saddam had given in... and the inspectors were going to prove it.

gwb couldn't take a chance that Iraqi oil would flow north for the distant future and that is why it was a national security issue.

My humble opinion

[on point]

12. I agree. That is why Bush rushed to war. Couldn't wait to be proved a liar.

[Jokinomx]

17. Here are some facts from the Heritage Foundation from Feb. 2003

Russia had close ties with Iraq and this was in the pipeline. GWB couldn't allow this to happen.


* A future $40 billion Iraqi-Russian economic agreement, reportedly signed in 2002, would allow for extensive oil exploration opportunities throughout western Iraq.<22> The proposal calls for 67 new projects, over a 10-year time frame, to explore and further develop fields in southern Iraq and the Western Desert, including the Suba, Luhais, West Qurna, and Rumaila projects. Additional projects added to the deal include second-phase construction of a pipeline running from southern to northern Iraq, and extensive drilling and gas projects. Work on these projects would commence upon cancellation of sanctions.<23>


==================

and of course we all know what actually happened.... Russia didn't get any of it.


http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2003/02/facts-on-who-benefits-from-keeping-saddam-hussein-in-power

[Gregorian]

11. Hans Blix versus Don Rumsfeld. Blix wins.

Ritter and Blix both did the jobs. What else can one say except that the 21st century began with war crimes. And I don't want to live in a world where people can get away with doing that kind of thing. That was the reason we banded together into communities in the first place.

[yellowcanine]

13. In the category of "Things we already know". We really don't need a report.

[BlueMTexpat]

14. And they created their own special little office in DOD, headed up

by Douglas Feith, to provide the analysis that they wanted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_J._Feith

I'm still very p'oed at Georgetown University (one of my alma maters) for granting this piece of scum a teaching position from which he can continue to spout his lies about foreign policy.

[Botany]

15. Donald Rumsfeld quote:

"We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west,
south and north somewhat."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-415438/The-wit-wisdom-Rummy.html#ixzz1DOD3PRrp

[whathappened]

16. that asswipe

rummy was on nbc last nite being interviewed by dianne sawyer , he said everybody was sure and kept going back to powell how he said in front of the u.n. that they had the goods on sadam , and then went on to say the world is a better place with out sadam , judge and jury all by himself along with the rest of bushs crime family

[No Elephants]

20. That we had "Little evidence for Iraq WMDs ahead of 2003 war" was a state secret until now?

:rofl:


Most of us knew it before the war started and, hell, Bush's little humorous* skit about hunting for WMD should have given it away to the 17 people who hadn't caught on before then.


*You could hear widows, Gold Star moms, parentless kids and hundreds of thousands of bereaved Iraqis and caretakers of those injured in mind and/or body laughing all over the globe.

[WinkyDink]

21. "Little"???!!! "LITTLE"??!! How about "ZERO"??!!