US should be "embarrassed" over failure to find WMDs: ex-spies

Agence France-Presse (AFP) ^ | 4-18-03 | Gina Doggett

[Oldeconomybuyer]

WASHINGTON, April 17 (AFP) - The US government should be "embarrassed" over the apparent failure to uncover weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, retired intelligence officials who opposed the war said Thursday.

"It's going to be very embarrassing when it turns out they have nothing to declare," said Eugene Betit, a former defense intelligence analyst who belongs to Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), formed in January to speak out on the use of intelligence to justify the war.

Another, former CIA station chief Ray Close, said: "I'm hoping they will be embarrassed into acknowledging a role for some independent body. And who could it be but the UN?"

As the "smoking gun" continued to elude US sleuths in Iraq, chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix called for experts to return to the country to determine whether the weapons allegations -- the main justification for going to war -- had any foundation.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday he was "reasonably sure" that proof will be found.

"We are quite confident of our intelligence," he told Jim Lehrer of PBS public television.

"There was a huge intelligence collection effort with all of our agencies working together to come up with the body of knowledge that we took to the UN, and that we had been presenting before the world for a long period of time," he said.

Adding to the pressure, Russia, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, said it would not support the lifting of UN sanctions against Iraq unless UN inspectors confirmed the absence of weapons of mass destruction.

But Washington has so far rejected such calls, and US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday sought to deflect concerns that evidence could be planted.

"The (US search) teams have been trained in chain of control, really like a crime scene," Rumsfeld told Pentagon staff.

He said: "They will have people with them who will validate things, they will have the ability to take pictures, and to make sure that the control over any piece of evidence is as clear as it possibly can be."

Rumsfeld warned however: "That will not stop certain countries, and certain types of people from claiming, inaccurately, that it was planted."

Retired CIA intelligence analyst and VIPS member Ray McGovern told AFP: "Some of my colleagues are virtually certain that there will be some weapons of mass destruction found, even though they might have to be planted.

"I'm just as sure that some few will be found, but not in an amount that by any stretch would justify the charge of a threat against the US or anyone else. "

He added: "Even if the planting were discovered by and by, they'll say, 'ok, the weapons were planted -- fine.'"

McGovern said he was alluding to a remark by Powell after it emerged that a letter purporting to show that Iraq had sought to procure uranium from Niger -- a key argument in the case for war and cited in President George W. Bush's January 28 State of the Union address -- was a forgery.

Powell told NBC: "It was the information that we had. We provided it. If that information is inaccurate, fine."

VIPS, made up of 25 former intelligence officials in the CIA, State and Defense Departments, Army Intelligence and FBI, made their first public statement on February 5, critiquing Powell's presentation before the UN Security Council seeking an international mandate for the war.

"Never before has a group of veteran CIA graduates -- all cum laude -- gotten together to critique the government," McGovern said.

CIA spokesman Tom Crispell, asked for comment on the former officials' remarks Thursday, said: "They're criticizing policy, not intelligence."

[niteowl77]

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), formed in January to speak out on the use of intelligence to justify the war

What a bunch of class acts. What's next? Selling any secrets they might still remember because they don't like current policy? Wankers, indeed.

Hell hath no fury like a bureaucratic functionary put out to pasture (especially an incompetent bureaucratic functionary put out to pasture).

[Pete]

Retired CIA intelligence analyst and VIPS member Ray McGovern told AFP: "Some of my colleagues are virtually certain that there will be some weapons of mass destruction found, even though they might have to be planted.

This idea of the US planting WMDs so they can find them has been latched on to by every anti-American whiner out there. It is such a stupid argument. The Iraqis have tons of this stuff. When we find (and we will) 20,000 gallons of anthrax, these folks are going to look even more stupid than they do now. What? Did we haul it in there in a giant convoy of semis that no one happened to see even though the country is swarming with media types (not to mention to the embedds)?

The Left is setting itself up again! At some point you think they would see they are only hurting themselves. Let's hope it's not too soon.

[Clara Lou]

They're criticizing policy, not intelligence.
I do not give a counterfeit farthing about their opinions... or Sarandon's... or Robinson's... or Sandy Duncan's ~giggle~... or Sheen's or Garafalo's. A pox on them all.

[Maceman]

It is enough that we have found terrorist training camps and terrorists in Iraq. We don't need no steenking WMD to prove that Saddam was a threat to the US.

Although I believe we will find WMD anyway.

[alisasny]

THINK BACK

Tony Blair would never have gone along if there are no WMD's. They will be announced at the appropriate time as another suggested so the naysayers are finally silenced.

[FreedomPoster]

>>It's just a matter of who do we want to embaress; the French, the Germans, the Russians or all of them.

The Democrats.

[TontoKowalski]

Ping. Lots of potential Garofalo Award winners in this article.

By the time the DC Chapter presents the Awards, we'll probably have hard public evidence that Iraq was swimming in WMD.

[schaketo]

NEVER FORGET!

Gotta keep this alive. Share this link with all like minded family and friends. They are feeling the heat.

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[LS]

I certainly hope so. For me it isn't a big deal: Saddam harbored terrorists, end of story. But I think many Americans will be more skeptical of Bush's national security program if SOME aren't found.

[Urbane_Guerilla]

Re: #17.

Your analysis is the best summary I have yet seen.

[Beck_isright]

"I don't know where the military would ever find MOPP gear big enough to fit Ted Kennedy anyway!"

It's called a 10 man tent in civilian speak.

[Beck_isright]

"By the way--I think Syria is a feint--Libya will be next."

I concur. Have you noticed that our Med battle group is still there? I think Qaddafi should be very nervous. We did not start this war over Anthrax or inspections. I think Sadamn and Qaddafi have or were close to having nukes. W might go down in history as the President that prevented a nuclear World War by starting a conventional one.

[Red6]

apparent failure (interpretation, a editorial opinion)

As the "smoking gun" continued to elude US sleuths in Iraq (another editorial interpretation)

Retired CIA intelligence analyst and VIPS member Ray McGovern told AFP: (Are they part of the Earth is flat organization?)

"Never before has a group of veteran CIA graduates -- all cum laude -- gotten together to critique the government," (Factually incorrect, JFK)

So, we have an article citing former CIA members (top ranking stellar performers, self proclaimed) who claim something that is now interpreted and editorialized by someone who states factually incorrect information.

Besides lacking in substance, the article was written in poor style and is inaccurate.

This is just another Journalist attempting to capitalize on the spirit of contempt for the US in his nation. Regardless of what the US does, it will not be adequate in volume, time, justification and if all else fails it will be made relative and interpreted as failure though it was a complete success (i.e. the Combat phase itself). The fact that the US has not found WMD instantly is now a failure just as the war was a failure in his mind until Iraq imploded. He is searching for a justification to his views; he already knows the answer to the question though “US bad, US wrong”. In so far, he is not a journalist who is answering questions or really analyzing, rather he is a commentator, a stylish interpreter of current events, someone with opinions.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

This is just another Journalist attempting to capitalize on the spirit of contempt for the US in his nation.

Well said, and unfortunately all too familar these days.