Posted on 09/16/2006 3:30:59 PM PDT by ikez78
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate panel has begun an inquiry to determine what a top official in Saddam Hussein's government told the CIA about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in late 2002 as the Bush administration made its case for war. ADVERTISEMENT
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said in a September 8 report that it launched the investigation after the CIA's former chief of European clandestine operations appeared on the CBS' "60 Minutes" news magazine in April. The official, Tyler Drumheller, told CBS that the Iraqi government source had said Iraq had no active unconventional weapons program.
Drumheller's disclosure contradicted spy agency documents quoting the same Iraqi source as saying Saddam did have such programs, according to an addendum to the Senate report written by three Republican senators including chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas.
"We have differing interpretations, and I think mine's right," Drumheller, who has already testified on the matter before the committee, told Reuters on Friday. Drumheller is preparing to publish a book about his 26-year career that will include material on Iraq and the U.S. war on terrorism.
The Iraqi official, identified by CBS as former Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, also told the CIA that Iraq considered al Qaeda a longtime enemy and had "no past, current or anticipated future contact" with Osama bin Laden, the senators said.
The CIA did not pass that along to policymakers, the senators said. Nor was it disseminated to intelligence analysts. That was because CIA officials concluded the Iraqi official's comments on al Qaeda were nothing new, the senators said.
The CIA gained access to the source in Saddam's inner circle in September 2002, as President George W. Bush warned Americans that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction posed an imminent threat and that Saddam had ties to the al Qaeda network responsible for the September 11 attacks.
The United States invaded Iraq six months later. But U.S. troops have found no such weapons there. The Senate report, echoing earlier findings by the September 11 commission, also concludes that Saddam Hussein had no relationship with al Qaeda.
Drumheller's televised comments lent support to allegations that the administration focused on intelligence which backed its case for war with Iraq while ignoring contradictory reports.
But in the Senate report, which compares prewar Iraq intelligence with postwar findings, the Republican senators said a CIA operations cable and an intelligence report to high-level policymakers both contradict Drumheller.
"The committee has not completed its inquiry," Roberts said in an additional views addendum co-authored with Sen. Orrin Hatch (news, bio, voting record) of Utah and Sen. Saxby Chambliss (news, bio, voting record) of Georgia. All three are staunch White House allies.
"All of the information about this case so far indicates that the information from this source was that Iraq did have WMD programs," they wrote.
Drumheller said Saddam had no fissile material for bomb-making and that chemical munitions posed little danger because they had been dispersed in small numbers to political leaders across the country.
"There was no prospect of an immediate attack from any kind of weapon like this," he said.
The Iraqi official had told the CIA the only weapons program not fully active was a biological weapons program he described as amateur, the senators said in the report.
PING
FReepers know better than this. And we have the links to prove it :)
The Senate report is a bunch of BS.
What a bunch of crapola this whole article is!!!
Bush NEVER, EVER said there was an imminent threat by Saddam..AND it tries to say that Bush linked Saddam to 9/11.
Enough said.
Oh, yeah..I forgot..you are right, the Senate Report is as bad as Reuters.
BTW...we have a thread today, with an article written by Stephen Hayes...HE and Brandon Miniter are 10 times more knowledgable than the writer of this article..
AND the Senate Intel Committee that has set out to FRAME Pres. Bush from the start.
Can you post a link to the Hayes article. I'd like to readit and I'm sure others will also. Thanks!
So the dems are basing their argument on one guys interpretation instead of all the documents?
I'm tired of arguments about the wisdom of invading Iraq. It happened, it's over, and there are more pressing matters in front of us now.
Never believe a guy who's trying to sell his book.
Here is the one today by Hitchens:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1702499/posts
I may have thought Hayes was today...I will search for it and post in a bit.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1702582/posts
Here is the Stephen Hayes article:
BOTH of them are very good, this one and the Hitchens one.
pop...WE ALL ARE!!!
BUT, that is the only thing the DEMS and MSM seem to think they can "pin" on Bush..
Plamegate fell apart..
Thanks for the link.
"President George W. Bush warned Americans that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction posed an imminent threat and that Saddam had ties to the al Qaeda network responsible for the September 11 attacks."
Absolute RUBBISH, absolutely UNTRUE!!
The Bush Administration and the President's lawyers should write a letter to Reuters demanding they retract or correct the statement that the President said the threat was imminent which he did not. After all, as with the Path to 9-11, the Clinton people expressed a concern, and the media agreed, that inaccurate statements shouldn't be attributed to "real" people. I'm sure we can expect to read Reuters and all other media outlets correct the record in the interest of the public. Read as sarcasm..big time!
The left's whitewashing, dis-information campaigns will continue. All we can do is attempt to share info to counter their claims. As for the Senate. What can one say. They could not even include a lot of important things in the original 9/11 report due to their ineptness, and willingness to create a document that whitewashed and protected the Clintoons from embarresment. Able Danger anyone.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=onfreep
Look through this list of free republic articles on Saddam, Several of which include references to his WMD programs.
The most interesting are the ones pertaining to his detonation of a low yield nuclear device and his use of political prisoners to clean up the debris after and then be entombed. Check the Gwynne Roberts article.
Sure, why not! It's not like the Senate has anything better to do. /sarc
Not true.
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