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U.S. 'Had No New Evidence of WMD' in Iraq
By Edward Alden
Financial Times
Sunday 28 September 2003
The US launched its war with Iraq despite having no fresh intelligence evidence that the regime of Saddam Hussein was developing mass destruction weapons or forging ties with terrorists, the leaders of the House of Representatives intelligence committee have concluded.
The findings by the Republican and Democratic heads of the committee have again forced the US administration to defend its decision to go to war - at a time when it must persuade Congress to back an unpopular $87bn (€76bn, £52bn) request for funds to maintain security and reconstruct Iraq.
Condoleezza Rice, White House national security adviser, said on Sunday on Fox News that there was "enrichment of intelligence" between 1998 and 2003 and that "nothing pointed to a reversal of Saddam Hussein's very active efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction".
But the heads of the House intelligence committee - normally strong backers of the Central Intelligence Agency, said in a letter to George Tenet, CIA director, that the agency's conclusions about Iraq's weapons programmes were based largely on outdated assessments.
"The absence of proof that chemical and biological weapons and their related development programs had been destroyed was considered proof that they continued to exist," said the letter, sent last Thursday and published at the weekend by Reuters and the Washington Post.
It said the US had little specific intelligence after 1998, when United Nations weapons inspectors left Iraq, nor did it have better information about Iraq's ties to terrorists. This inadequate intelligence was passed on to CIA analysts who prepared assessments for policymakers, "providing ample room for vagary to intrude".
The conclusions, based on a four-month assessment of classified documents by the committee, have increased pressure on the administration to demonstrate that the threat from Iraq justified the decision to go to war.
David Kay, the former UN weapons inspector who has been scouring Iraq for evidence of mass destruction weapons, will issue an interim report this week. Mr. Kay hinted in June that he had uncovered "some surprises" that would demonstrate Iraq's chemical and biological weapons programmes. But Ms Rice said on Sunday the report was "not likely to draw any major conclusions".
In the run-up to the war, top administration officials repeatedly cited the threat of Mr. Hussein's mass destruction weapons, with Dick Cheney, vice-president, claiming Iraq had "reconstituted nuclear weapons". But with the administration forced to back away from prewar claims, it is arguing instead that the elimination of a brutal regime in an unstable region was sufficient justification for war.
The Washington Post reported on Sunday that Mr. Tenet had requested a Justice Department investigation into whether White House officials illegally leaked the name of a CIA operative to reporters.
The operative, Valerie Plame, is married to Joseph Wilson, an ambassador sent by the CIA last year to investigate claims that Iraq had tried to purchase uranium yellowcake from Niger. Mr. Wilson concluded the claims were false.
One official told the Post Ms Plame's name was made public "purely for revenge". The CIA declined to comment on Sunday.
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