Posted on 04/02/2004 8:05:01 PM PST by knak
WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Colin Powell conceded Friday evidence he presented to the United Nations that two trailers in Iraq were used for weapons of mass destruction may have been wrong.
In an airborne news conference on the way home from NATO talks in Brussels, Belgium, Powell said he had been given solid information about the trailers that he told the Security Council in February 2003 were designed for making biological weapons.
But now, Powell said, ``it appears not to be the case that it was that solid.''
He said he hoped the intelligence commission appointed by President Bush to investigate prewar intelligence on Iraq ``will look into these matters to see whether or not the intelligence agency had a basis for the confidence that they placed in the intelligence at that time.''
Powell's dramatic case to the Security Council that Iraq had secret arsenals of weapons of mass destruction failed to persuade the council to directly back the U.S.-led war that deposed the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. But it helped mobilize sentiment among the American people for going to war.
As it turned out, U.N. inspectors were unable to uncover the weapons, but administration officials have insisted they still might be uncovered.
David Kay, who led the hunt for the weapons, showed off a pair of trailers for news cameras last summer and argued that the two metal flatbeds were designed for making biological weapons.
But faced with mounting challenges to that theory, Kay conceded in October he could have been wrong. He said he did not know whether Iraq ever had a mobile weapons program.
Powell told reporters that as he worked on the Bush administration's case against Iraq U.S. intelligence ``indicated to me'' that the intelligence was solid.
``I'm not the intelligence community, but I probed and I made sure, as I said in my presentation, these are multi-sourced'' allegations, Powell said.
The trailers were the most dramatic claims, ``and I made sure that it was multi-sourced,'' he said.
``Now, if the sources fell apart we need to find out how we've gotten ourselves in that position,'' he said.
``I have discussions with the CIA about it,'' Powell said, without providing further details.
The trailers were the only discovery the administration had cited as evidence of an illicit Iraqi weapons program.
In six months of searches, no biological, chemical or nuclear weapons were found to bolster the administration's central case for going to war: to disarm Saddam of suspected weapons of mass destruction.
To keep them from floating off?
Two sides to the coin. One, sees it as a fairly light matter, since the much-feared bogeymen WMDs have not been fortyhcoming.
The other viewpoint is as a former battalion CBR NCO, with a very good detailed working knowledge of the effects and countermeasures necessary in weapons of that sort had come into play, or do yet.
But it is certain that the situation could be much, much worse than it appears to be, and that in itself is cause for letting a little of a whistle-past-the-graveyard attitude slip.
I ain't afraid of no ghosts. Lordy no; not me!
The hallmark of the non-professional is to call anything as complex as terrorism "simple". There are some folks, a couple of whom lurk and post here, who have been working this problem, both as analysts and operators, for decades and it would be wise to learn from their counsel. If you think the Russians have a better solution - really worked for them in Afghanistan, didn't it - then by all means subscribe to their tactics. The salient fact of the matter is that all the barbery employed by spetsnaz during that guerilla war got them nowhere except to beat a hasty exit out of that woebegone land. (On the other hand, we did things right by supplying the fedayeen with shoulder fired weapons to bring down the hulking MI-24s and by assisting them in other ways. Unfortunately, we didn't follow through which led to the rise of the Taliban and ultimately to the establishment of a sanctuary for bin Laden's troops).
Oh, by the way, there's a saying called, "put up or shut up." The CIA is still looking for operations officers and if you think your opinion and point-of-view could turn the tide of terrorism - after all you must be right and everyone else is wrong and it's just so simple - then step up to the plate. But until you do, and swoop down like an avenging angel saving us from the evildoers, I'll put my faith in the professionals that grind it out everyday.
Nobody knew on the eve of war what was "factual", and in fact nearly everybody believed there were stockpiles of WMDs.
Blix was all over the map prior to the invasion, alternately claiming they were there and then saying he didn't believe they were there etc.
And forget Ritter. Nobody considered him an authority on anything, even if he did just happen to get one thing right.
I was almost with until you used this very lame line.
Sure you were.
In any case you seem rather upset that Bush overthrew Saddam.
If you really cared one bit that Bush liberated Iraqis from that murdering tyrant who gassed entire towns and fill mass graves with 300,000 of them....would you be here bashing him over the Iraqi war?
I don't think so.
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