Pentagon Shadow Loses Some Mystique - Feith's Shops Did Not Usurp Intelligence Agencies on Iraq

Washington Post | March 13, 2004 | Dana Priest

[ReleaseTheHounds]

In February 2002, Christina Shelton, a career Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, was combing through old intelligence on Iraq when she stumbled upon a small paragraph in a CIA report from the mid-1990's that stopped her.

It recounted a contact between some Iraqis and al Qaeda that she had not seen mentioned in current CIA analysis, according to three defense officials who work with her. She spent the next couple of months digging through 12 years of intelligence reports on Iraq and produced a briefing on alleged contacts Shelton felt had been overlooked or underplayed by the CIA.

Her boss, Douglas J. Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy and the point man on Iraq, was so impressed that he set up a briefing for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was so impressed he asked her to brief CIA Director George J. Tenet in August 2002...

[ReleaseTheHounds]

This story appears on the Washington Post's page A11. It's an important story -- but it's buried on a back page of the Saturday edition. I can't provide a link, because the Washington Post won't register me for some reason -- perhaps some other Freeper can provide a URL.

This story goes on to explain the thorough job analysts in the Defense Department did in researching the Al Qaeda "network" to find these "connect the dots" connections to Iraq and other state sponsors of terrorism. Rather than "manipulating the evidence" to promote a "predestined war" with Iraq, these people did the spade work that hadn't been done prior to 9-11 (and throughout the Clinton Administration).

I didn't see this posted anywhere else -- I'm sure this is the kind of story that Democrats (and the Media generally) would like to see overlooked -- doesn't support the current prevailing thesis.

It's a long article but worth the read if you can find it. I've posted the first 2 1/2 paragraphs of a 45 paragraph story.

[IncPen]

bump

[Quilla]

Link to article.

Something makes me think Iraq and al Qaeda were quite close.

[Quilla]

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members ... It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons." -- Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002

[ReleaseTheHounds]

Thanks for the link... they finally accepted my registration.

I'm sure Democrats will still see "sinister" in this report, but it sure seems like just good intelligence analysis by Feith's team, and the appropriate "going through channels" in presenting the findings. But that wouldn't fit the Demos' script.

[MizSterious]

Good find, RTH. There has been other evidence, yet even "fair and balanced" types like O'Reilly continue the "there's no connection" mantra. Amazing that this was buried in the back pages.

[longtermmemmory]

o'Reily is a ratings-ist.

If he tought he could get ratings by going left, he would and will.

[roses of sharon]

Sen. Bob Graham thought so, in the Time mag Special Issue, Sept 24, 2001, he said about Saddam:

There is "some evidence" that Saddam was involved, evidence that is "credible enough that you can't take Iraq off the list".

Graham was CHAIRMAN of the Sen Intel Committee at the time.

Of course that was BEFORE the BIG LIES started, and BEFORE Graham started his run for President where he was calling for Bush's impeachment.

And BEFORE the time when the elite NY media decided to defend Saddam and Sons against Bush.

[Gothmog]

Related WTimes story here:

Rumsfeld defends Iraq terror study

By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 3/13/04

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday defended the work of a small team of analysts who wrote a report outlining years of reported contacts between Saddam Hussein's regime and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terror network.
The two-person team began reviewing existing intelligence reports of such contacts shortly after September 11. Scanning a secure computer, the team gleaned scores of reports of Iraqi officials visiting bin Laden's headquarters in Sudan and Afghanistan. The reports suggested that Saddam's bomb-makers lent their expertise to al Qaeda operatives.
The Pentagon team's work has been condemned by liberal journalists and Democrats for, in their view, going outside the Central Intelligence Agency.
The team's report became the brunt of criticism this week at a Senate hearing, as Democratic Sens. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Carl Levin of Michigan grilled CIA Director George J. Tenet on pre-war intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
But to Mr. Rumsfeld, the team's work was routine.
"They were asked to review intelligence reports on a certain subject, which they did, which is perfectly proper thing for policy people to do," he said at a Pentagon "Town Hall" meeting. "We do it all the time. There's nothing new about that. You're not creating intelligence. You're not gathering intelligence. You're reviewing intelligence that already exists, so that you can support your superiors in the policy shop. That is what that was about."
Douglas Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy and the team's supervisor, eventually provided the secret report to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The office of Vice President Dick Cheney also received a briefing.
Pentagon sources told The Washington Times, which first reported the group's existence in 2002, that Mr. Feith's advisers believed the CIA downplayed links between Baghdad and al Qaeda. They wanted to do their own intelligence analysis to show links the CIA ignored or did not believe existed, the defense sources said.
But some CIA analysts viewed the work as encroaching on their turf. Mr. Tenet has stated he does not agree with all the Pentagon's conclusion on al Qaeda-Baghdad ties.
Mr. Rumsfeld yesterday defended his team's work as "not only not a bad thing, it's a good thing."
"We briefed the vice president. We briefed the DCI [director of Central Intelligence]. We briefed the secretary of state," he said.
Mocking critics and their "conspiratorial view," Mr. Rumsfeld adjusted his voice into a whisper. "Why did they do that?"
Then he answered his critics: "They did it because they wanted to be briefed."

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040312-115035-6924r.htm

[Grampa Dave]

O'Reilly is not a conservative. He is a chameleon, who appears to be conservative until you get below the veneer he has applied to his outer shell.

[prognostigaator]

bttt