Posted on 07/09/2004 9:55:49 AM PDT by usmc1775
The key U.S. assertions leading to the 2003 invasion of Iraq — that Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons and was working to make nuclear weapons — were wrong and based on false or overstated CIA analyses, a scathing Senate Intelligence Committee report asserted Friday.
Intelligence analysts fell victim to "group think" assumptions that Iraq had weapons that it did not, the bipartisan report concluded. Many factors contributing to those failures are ongoing problems within the U.S. intelligence community — which cannot be fixed with more money alone, it said.
Sen. Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican who heads the committee, told reporters that assessments that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons and could make a nuclear weapon by the end of the decade were wrong.
"As the report will show, they were also unreasonable and largely unsupported by the available intelligence," he said.
"This was a global intelligence failure."
Intelligence analysts worked from the assumption that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons and was seeking to make more, as well as trying to revive a nuclear weapons program. Instead, investigations after the Iraq invasion have shown that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had no nuclear weapons program and no biological weapons, and only small amounts of chemical weapons have been found.
Analysts ignored or discounted conflicting information because of their assumptions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the report said.
(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.yahoo.com ...
Guess they didnt get the memo about all of the chemical weapons already discovered in Iraq
BTW....welcome to FR.
I think.....
Not trying to start a flamewar, just wanted to see what the reaction to the Senate Comittee is.
Oxymoron
Just love it!
Yeah right.......................................
Despite all evidence to the contrary.
Yeah really. So, the handful of sarin/mustard shells found thusfar IN IRAQ don't exist??
Why can't the MEDIA ask these people about that blatant paradox?
The big question for me is why was Saddam still evading the inspectors then? Why was he violating UN resolution 1441?
And how many TONS of enriched uranium did the U.N. just whine about the USA taking OUT of Iraq?
I guess those kurds died from being gassed after eating too many beans?
So what were those sarin gas shells? Stale popcorn?
The real question is if there will be resignations from the Senate Intelligence Committee. These are the people most responsible. They set the budgets, write the restrictions on how things are done and provide oversight.
What did they know and when did they know it?
The Congress always tries to point the figure. They are the problem. The FBI and the CIA are career people who drone on no matter what party is in power. The CIA now clearly supports Kerry.
Who on the Intelligence Committee failed us.
I couldn't make heads or tails out of what they were saying. It sounded like a lot of CYA, to me. I personally want to read the report myself.
1. The AP writer does mention the sarin ("small amounts")
2. the enriched uranium was already known about and inspected before the invasion for those of you that missed the memo.
I also would like to read the report. By the way, I love your tagline. I heard Landrieu defend F911 and also heard, I think it was Asman, challange her to Google up the Hitchens article debunking this rot. Landrieu is a dumb woman.
And the nuclear material moved out from under the noses (literally) of the U.N. was just a big, glowing pile of our imagination, huh?
When they settle down, the Bush administration and those that support him will be in for a blistering attack unlike anything we've had so far.
This isn't good news for our team.
The sarin makes a handy dandy dandelion killer, and the mustard gas makes a great insectcide. No one ever thought of using them as weapons--shame on you for being such a racist homophobe right-winger.
Intel is always subject to faults. Always!
There never is a provable smoking gun scenario.................NEVER!
The fact that he would do anything, say anything, and help any group to hurt the U.S. and it's allies at any time was not something we could live. Not now, not then and not ever!
All this self flagellation over Intel is pointless bull feces and has no bearing on the rightness or wrongness of the end game.
The end game is far from achieved and Saddam is a footnote, but an important domino in the fall and elimination of the war that Islam is deviously prosecuting against us........................
It is very far from over.
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