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Ex-Official: Evidence Distorted for War
AP via Excite News ^ | Jun 7, 6:18 AM (ET) | JOHN J. LUMPKIN

Posted on 06/07/2003 7:15:11 AM PDT by leadpencil1

The Bush administration distorted intelligence and presented conjecture as evidence to justify a U.S. invasion of Iraq, according to a retired intelligence official who served during the months before the war.

"What disturbs me deeply is what I think are the disingenuous statements made from the very top about what the intelligence did say," said Greg Thielmann, who retired last September. "The area of distortion was greatest in the nuclear field."

Thielmann was director of the strategic, proliferation and military issues office in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. His office was privy to classified intelligence gathered by the CIA and other agencies about Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear programs.

In Thielmann's view, Iraq could have presented an immediate threat to U.S. security in two areas: Either it was about to make a nuclear weapon, or it was forming close operational ties with al-Qaida terrorists.

Evidence was lacking for both, despite claims by President Bush and others, Thielmann said in an interview this week. Suspicions were presented as fact, contrary arguments ignored, he said.

The administration's prewar portrayal of Iraq's weapons capabilities has not been validated despite weeks of searching by military experts. Alleged stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons have not turned up, nor has significant evidence of a nuclear weapons program or links to the al-Qaida network.

Bush has said administration assertions on Iraq will be verified in time. The CIA and other agencies have vigorously defended their prewar performances.

CIA Director George Tenet, responding to similar criticism last week, said in a statement: "The integrity of our process was maintained throughout, and any suggestion to the contrary is simply wrong." On Friday, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency acknowledged he had no hard evidence of Iraqi chemical weapons last fall but believed Iraq had a program in place to produce them.

Also Friday, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was not prepared to place blame for any intelligence shortcomings until all information is in.

"There are always times when a single sentence or a single report evokes a lot of concern and some doubt," Warner told reporters after a closed hearing of his committee. "But thus far, in my own personal assessment of this situation, the intelligence community has diligently and forthrightly and with integrity produced intelligence and submitted it to this administration and to the Congress of the United States."

Thielmann suggested mistakes may have been made at points all along the chain from when intelligence is gathered, analyzed, presented to the president and then provided to the public.

The evidence of a renewed nuclear program in Iraq was far more limited than the administration contended, he said.

"When the administration did talk about specific evidence - it was basically declassified, sensitive information - it did it in a way that was also not entirely honest," Thielmann said.

In his State of the Union address, Bush said, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

The Africa claim rested on a purported letter or letters between officials in Iraq and Niger held by European intelligence agencies. The communications are now accepted as forged, and Thielmann said he believed the information on Africa was discounted months before Bush mentioned it.

"I was very surprised to hear that be announced to the United States and the entire world," he said.

Thielmann said he had presumed Iraq had supplies of chemical and probably biological weapons. He particularly expected U.S. forces to find caches of mustard agent or other chemical weapons left over from Saddam's old stockpiles.

"We appear to have been wrong," he said. "I've been genuinely surprised at that."

One example where officials took too far a leap from the facts, according to Thielmann: On Feb. 11, CIA Director Tenet told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Iraq "retains in violation of U.N. resolutions a small number of Scud missiles that it produced before the Gulf War."

Intelligence analysts supposed Iraq may have had some missiles because they couldn't account for all the Scuds it had before the first Gulf War, Thielmann said. They could have been destroyed, dismantled, miscounted or still somewhere in Saddam's inventory.

Some critics have suggested that the White House and Pentagon policy-makers pressured the CIA and military intelligence to come up with conclusions favorable to an attack-Iraq policy. The CIA and military have denied such charges. Thielmann said that generally he felt no such pressure.

Although his office did not directly handle terrorism issues, Thielmann said he was similarly unconvinced of a strong link between al-Qaida and Saddam's government.

Yet, the implication from Bush on down was that Saddam supported Osama bin Laden's network. Iraq and the Sept. 11 attacks frequently were mentioned in the same sentence, even though officials have no good evidence of any link between the two.


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: baitandswitch; betrayal; cia; desperation; dia; distortion; fiasco; georgetenet; gregthielmann; intelligence; iraqifreedom; johnwarner; proof; slightofhand; wmd
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1 posted on 06/07/2003 7:15:11 AM PDT by leadpencil1
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To: leadpencil1
Time will tell.
2 posted on 06/07/2003 7:24:31 AM PDT by gitmo (What noise annoys a noisy oyster most? A noisy noise annoys a noisy oyster most!)
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To: leadpencil1
o A. Greg Thielmann '72 After earning his bachelor's degree in political science, with honors, A. Greg Thielmann went on to work for then-Congressman John Culver. He studied international affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton, then entered the United States Foreign Service where he has compiled a distinguished service record during a career of 25 years. Although he has filled a variety of assignments, he has been most deeply involved in arms control and security issues. He is currently acting director of the Strategic, Proliferation, and Military Affairs Office in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the State Department.

What do you wanna bet Culver is/was a Dem?

3 posted on 06/07/2003 7:26:34 AM PDT by mewzilla
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To: leadpencil1
The Africa claim rested on a purported letter or letters between officials in Iraq and Niger held by European intelligence agencies. The communications are now accepted as forged, and Thielmann said he believed the information on Africa was discounted months before Bush mentioned it.

This whole d*mn thing is sounding more and more like a plot from Twenty Four. Where was Jack Bauer during all of this?

4 posted on 06/07/2003 7:30:32 AM PDT by templar
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To: leadpencil1
. . . Greg Thielmann, who retired last September. . . .

. . . Thielmann was director of the strategic, proliferation and military issues office in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. . . .

. . . Although his office did not directly handle terrorism issues, . . .

What a pathetic article. It's almost as if they wrote a story to justify a headline.

5 posted on 06/07/2003 7:30:55 AM PDT by AmishDude
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To: leadpencil1
whatever
6 posted on 06/07/2003 7:39:06 AM PDT by fml
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To: mewzilla
You got it. Iowa Dem who served in the House 1965-75 and in the Senate 1975-81.

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000979
7 posted on 06/07/2003 7:39:49 AM PDT by Heatseeker
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To: mewzilla
Culver was a Dem Congressman and later senator from Iowa and his son Chet is the Iowa Secretary of State and has higher political ambitions. John Culver was JFK's college roomate.
8 posted on 06/07/2003 7:40:46 AM PDT by babaloo
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To: gitmo
In Thielmann's view, Iraq could have presented an immediate threat to U.S. security in two areas: Either it was about to make a nuclear weapon, or it was forming close operational ties with al-Qaida terrorists.

Obviously, this guy did not recognize Al Qaida as an immediate threat until the planes were crashed into the buildings. With a track record like that, he should learn to STFU.

I think he's angling for a cushy job at the new democRAT stink tank.

9 posted on 06/07/2003 7:41:02 AM PDT by 300winmag
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To: Heatseeker
Thanks! Wish Powell would drain the swamp over there. Sigh.
10 posted on 06/07/2003 7:41:44 AM PDT by mewzilla
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To: babaloo
Yup, sounds like Thielmann fit right in over at Foggy Bottom.
11 posted on 06/07/2003 7:42:41 AM PDT by mewzilla
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To: leadpencil1
We need to know the truth about this. Everyone should put aside their pre-conceived notions and demand congress investigate and find the truth. We must demand that the investigation not be a white wash.

It is to everyone's long term best interests to get the truth out and not blindly follow your leader. Remember that history will know the answer with full certainty.

Even loyal Republicans must get in front of this and assure themselves with facts, not with party loyalty of their position or risk hurting the Republican party for a generation. Think back to Watergate. Do you want 10 to 15 years of unchallenged Democratic rule because the public is disgusted with Republicans?

Let us all urge Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, the chairman of the relevant committee, to put aside his party loyalty long enough to determine the truth without bias or white wash.

12 posted on 06/07/2003 7:44:44 AM PDT by Mike4Freedom (Freedom is the one thing that you cannot have unless you grant it to everyone else.)
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To: Mike4Freedom
You didn't want to go to war at all ,did you?
13 posted on 06/07/2003 7:48:25 AM PDT by MEG33
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To: leadpencil1
Now that these people are going to be coming out of the woodwork saying the CIA, Pentagon and the President lied about Iraq and WMD, my question to them is this. Why did you wait so long to raise the red flag? Why didn't you resign in protest? If people truly believed that the whole world was being set up by faulty evidence and lies then you should have said something a lot sooner. Therefore I take all this with a heaping helpful grain of salt.
14 posted on 06/07/2003 7:53:17 AM PDT by ReaganRevolution
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To: Mike4Freedom
Trust a Congressional committee?! Not in this lifetime :)
15 posted on 06/07/2003 7:54:46 AM PDT by mewzilla
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To: Mike4Freedom
Back in 1998 the Democrates were giving all the same reasons for taking out Saddam, and in 2003 it finally happened. History will show Pres. Bush did what the country ( at least many in the Democrate Senate) wanted Clinton to do.
16 posted on 06/07/2003 7:55:08 AM PDT by fml
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To: ReaganRevolution
Agreed. Any undertaking this large and complex (the war with Iraq) provides a mountain of details with which to twist and interpret to favor one side or the other. This is like real-time revisionist history.
17 posted on 06/07/2003 7:58:06 AM PDT by leadpencil1
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To: ReaganRevolution
Great question!
18 posted on 06/07/2003 7:59:29 AM PDT by MEG33
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To: mewzilla
Right - it should be an independent commission. Big names, all that crap. What will emerge is a sound case for taking out Sadaam from the months immediately after Desert Storm ended. Now who took action and who sat with his cigar up his intern for 8 years? Hmm... This will be like Enron. Set the scope large enough to include the Sink Emperor and the Dems will drop it like a hot potato.
19 posted on 06/07/2003 8:01:40 AM PDT by Dilbert56
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To: leadpencil1
The admisistration should have anticipated this problem and had all the answers read to shoot it down. Many of us here knew that this type of criticism was coming and that the Dems would keep attacking.
20 posted on 06/07/2003 8:02:04 AM PDT by Consort
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