WP: Inquiry Faults Intelligence on Iraq (Threat Was Overstated)

[jbfam4]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9230-2003Oct23.html

Inquiry Faults Intelligence on Iraq
Threat From Saddam Hussein Was Overstated, Senate Committee Report Finds
By Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 24, 2003; Page A01


The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is preparing a blistering report on prewar intelligence on Iraq that is critical of CIA Director George J. Tenet and other intelligence officials for overstating the weapons and terrorism case against Saddam Hussein, according to congressional officials.

The committee staff was surprised by the amount of circumstantial evidence and single-source or disputed information used to write key intelligence documents -- in particular the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate -- summarizing Iraq's capabilities and intentions, according to Republican and Democratic sources. Staff members interviewed more than 100 people who collected and analyzed the intelligence used to back up statements about Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons capabilities, and its possible links to terrorist groups.

Like a similar but less exhaustive inquiry being completed by the House intelligence committee, the Senate report shifts attention toward the intelligence community and away from White House officials, who have been criticized for exaggerating the Iraqi threat. At stake as the presidential political season approaches, said committee sources and intelligence figures, is who gets blamed for misleading the American public if weapons of mass destruction are never found in Iraq -- the president or his intelligence chief.

Asked about the upcoming report, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), chairman of the committee, said "the executive was ill-served by the intelligence community." The intelligence was sometimes "sloppy" and inconclusive, he said. "That's a concern I have with the total report" on Iraq.

[Loonman]

1. Gee whiz

We were saying this long before the phony oil war.

[Brotherjohn]

2. Um... where does the buck stop again?

nt

[wtmusic]

3. OK, I am furious

spin spin spin spin spin...

this is total f*cking bullshit intended to divert blame from the White House for the mess we are in. Pat Roberts is an evil human being.

:mad:

[madfloridian]

4. I will bet Bob Graham is writhing in anger over this.

He has been so outspoken and knows so much.

[KC21304]

5. This story explains how that happened.

http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/031027fa_fact

This administration got what they wanted, and now the CIA is being blamed. I sure wish George Tenet would grow a spine and expose this treasonous bunch.

[madfloridian]

6. "Keep it in the family"

SNIP..."But, Thielmann told me, “Bolton seemed to be troubled because INR was not telling him what he wanted to hear.” Thielmann soon found himself shut out of Bolton’s early-morning staff meetings. “I was intercepted at the door of his office and told, ‘The Under-Secretary doesn’t need you to attend this meeting anymore.’” When Thielmann protested that he was there to provide intelligence input, the aide said, “The Under-Secretary wants to keep this in the family.”

[shockingelk]

7. calling it "intelligence" ...

is too kind.

[dArKeR]

8. Battle looms over whether Iraq threat was oversold - TGM

Washington — A bitter partisan battle is brewing over where to lay the blame for grossly misjudging the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq: with the White House or with the spies.

At stake is whether the U.S. public, Congress and allies abroad were misled into backing U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to wage war on Iraq, as Democratic presidential contenders contend.

The opening salvos were fired this week when an early draft of a Senate Intelligence Committee report was leaked to The Washington Post. That draft, apparently prepared by staff under the control of the Republican chairman, fingers the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and other security authorities, faulting them for overstating both the threat of weapons of mass destruction and Baghdad's links with terrorism

http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031025.ubush1025/BNStory/International/