White House Releases CIA Info on Iraq

AP ^ | 07/18/03 | JOHN J. LUMPKIN

[Pikamax]

White House Releases CIA Info on Iraq

Friday July 18, 2003 7:09 PM

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - An intelligence assessment by the CIA last October cites ``compelling evidence'' that Saddam Hussein was attempting to reconstitute a nuclear-weapons program, according to documents released Friday by the White House.

Mounting a campaign to counter criticism that it used flawed intelligence to justify war with Iraq, the White House made public excerpts of the intelligence community's October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate. That report helped shape now-challenged comments by President Bush in his State of the Union address that Iraq was attempting to buy uranium in Africa.

The report asserts that Baghdad ``if left unchecked...probably will have a nuclear weapon during this decade.''

It also cites unsubstantiated reports that Iraq was trying to buy uranium from three African countries: Niger, Somalia and ``possibly'' Congo.

The White House sought to bolster its case as U.S. officials said that documents alleging Iraq sought uranium from Africa were obtained months before Bush cited them in making his case for war. But intelligence analysts did not look at them closely enough to know they were forgeries until after Bush had made the claim, U.S. officials say.

[Coop]

Fire for effect!

[Sloth]

A prelude to the smackdown.

[zingzang]

This won't be good enough for the dems. They're going to say it was fabricated because the White House waited so long to make this information public. GW needs to get some people who are more well versed at damage control.

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[Cyber Liberty]

epluribus_2's Thread

[The Brush]

They're going to say it was fabricated because the White House waited so long to make this information public

...and he should resign for the good of the Democratic party.

[BonnieJ]

Has this been covered on Fox or any of the cable news programs or the networks?

It seems they overlooked the Blair speech. This could get minimal coverage, too.

But (off topic) I don't see Fox as changing that much now that I think about it. They are simply following the headlines. Any story that is hyped they are completely with it..and so much of that is tabloid. And a potential "scandal" of ANY kind with a President is always good for ratings. This kind of important material is less so, it's too complicated!