Iraqgate -Sen. Levin: "CIA withheld crucial information"

posted by ewing2001 on Monday June 16, @02:58PM

Pressure mounts over WMD claims

BBC Tuesday, 17 June, 2003, 01:34 GMT

An inquiry opens on Tuesday into whether the UK Government misled parliament on the threat posed by Iraq, as Washington comes under fresh attack for allegedly manipulating evidence

...On Monday, a senior member of the US Senate fuelled the debate with fresh allegations.

Senator Carl Levin said he had evidence that the Central Intelligence Agency deliberately withheld crucial information from the UN arms inspectors deployed to Iraq before the war to find evidence of banned weapons.

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Mr Levin, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee - which is reviewing the information - told reporters that if the public had known that information about alleged top weapons sites was not being shared, there would have been "greater public demand that the inspection process continue".

"Why did the CIA say that they had provided detailed information to the UN inspectors on all of the high and medium suspect sites with the UN, when they had not? Did the CIA act in this way in order not to undermine administration policy? Was there another explanation for this?" he asked.

While Mr Levin has already made clear that he believes intelligence material may have been misused to make the case for war, the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says this is the first time he has backed it up with one specific, and serious, allegation...

...Two former UK cabinet ministers who resigned in connection with the war against Iraq, Robin Cook and Clare Short, are due to give evidence to the committee, whose job is to assess the role played by the Foreign Office in the affair.

Both ministers were privy to confidential briefings given to the government before the war began.

Ms Short has already said she believes the prime minister had "duped" the UK into joining the war, while Mr Cook has highlighted the coalition's failure to locate chemical or biological weapons in Iraq.

There's troubling evidence that intelligence was shaded and exaggerated - that evidence ought to be reviewed on a bipartisan basis in a thorough way

Both the prime minister and his director of communications, Alastair Campbell, have refused to appear before the committee, which takes evidence in public.

New York Post

"...The failure to find weapons of mass destruction thus far is mushrooming into a bigger problem by the day for the Bush administration..."

CIA takes charge of frantic WMD search

By VINCENT MORRIS
PHOTO GEORGE TENET

June 16, 2003 -- WASHINGTON -

"...The White House, accused of misleading the public about how dangerous Iraq was leading up to the war, has now ordered the CIA to try to find evidence Saddam Hussein amassed weapons of mass destruction.

CIA Director George Tenet is taking over the search from the Pentagon, which only managed to turn up some mobile labs that offered inconclusive evidence of weapons production.

Tenet will have direct responsibility over the 1,300 soldiers and civilians hunting for the weapons, according to a new report in Time magazine.

The world is still waiting for a clear sign that Iraq posed as great a threat to the world as the White House claimed it did.

Before the war, Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered a scathing speech on Saddam to the United Nations, and President Bush repeatedly cited the dangers the dictator posed as he worked to convince the world last winter that war with Iraq was justified.

Now, the failure to find weapons of mass destruction thus far is mushrooming into a bigger problem by the day for the Bush administration.

Tenet has already enlisted former U.N. weapons inspector David Kay for some advice in the search.

The report in Time suggests that the mission may be a no-win situation for Tenet, who had been looking for a chance to retire before he was put in charge of the new search..."

Pressure mounts over WMD claims
BBC News, UK - 47 minutes ago
... Mr Levin has already made clear that he believes intelligence material may have been
misused ... acted to a threat from the dictator of Iraq. ...

Blair to cooperate in Iraq intelligence probe
The Indiana Digital Student - Jun 4, 2003
... claims that his government had exaggerated the threat or misused intelligence material ... end,
there have been many claims made about the Iraq ...

Storm over US-UK intelligence assessments
Aljazeerah.info - Jun 11, 2003
... duped his Cabinet colleagues on the subject of Iraq in ... Last week, to counter the charge
that “Number 10” misused intelligence material ...

Bogus Intelligence, Foreign Policy and Crying Wolf-owitz
Payvand, Iran - Jun 10, 2003
... Johnson believes that intelligence was misused ... fraudulent" intelligence… " "US Insiders
Say Iraq ... issue of alleged "doctored intelligence material ...

Iraq weapons: Where does the buck stop?
BBC News, UK - Jun 10, 2003
... The issue of whether the government misused ... inspections, including anthrax, biological
material ... in itself show that Iraq ... While the intelligence performance has ...

Iraq's arms: the weapons of mass deception?
Taipei Times, Taiwan - Jun 10, 2003
... whether those Pentagon hawks deliberately misused ... a composite picture of Iraq's ... will
admit that the second intelligence ... attempting to procure nuclear material ...

The Arms Hunt: Were They Weapons of Self-Delusion?
Common Dreams - Jun 8, 2003
... is whether those Pentagon hawks deliberately misused ... still had no doubt that Iraq ... Saddam
tried to procure nuclear material ... of the issue - was the intelligence ...

Blair vows to co-operate with Iraq arms probe
Independent Online, South Africa - Jun 5, 2003
... month about conducting an enquiry into intelligence on Iraq ... that his government had
exaggerated the threat or misused intelligence material ...

Blair will assist in probe on Iraq data
Washington Times, DC - Jun 5, 2003
... failure to locate any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq ... his government had exaggerated
the threat or had misused intelligence material. ...

Blair promises to cooperate with probe
Daily Star, Lebanon - Jun 4, 2003
... over the build-up to the conflict in Iraq. Blair strongly rejected claims that
his government had exaggerated the threat or misused intelligence material. ...

And When We Find Them
Washington Dispatch - 12 hours ago
... intelligence sources in this regard or whether he “hyped ... used chemical weapons during
his reign in Iraq. Further evidence was documented in this regard during ...

Bush defends Saddam terror link claim
Telegraph.co.uk, UK - 21 hours ago
... Mr Bush accused the New York Times of overlooking evidence ... right decision in freeing
the people of Iraq ... briefing reporters for weeks that intelligence was "hyped ...

Weapons and Mass Distortion
Washington Post, DC - Jun 14, 2003
... have rushed to the conclusion that Iraq never had weapons of mass destruction and
that the Bush administration falsified or deliberately hyped the evidence. ...

American media easy prey for trickery in halls of antiquities
Oregonian, OR - Jun 14, 2003
... to highlight the dark side of the liberation of Iraq ... find the WMDs proves that the
threat was phony and hyped ... had them five years ago and there was no evidence ...

Keep intelligence probe simple
Rocky Mountain News, CO - 17 hours ago
... of Defense and State repeatedly asserted that Iraq ... Claiming the intelligence was hyped,
Democrats are ... that the administration did indeed embellish the evidence ...

The Boys Who Cried Wolfowitz
Balochistan Post, Pakistan - Jun 14, 2003
... the UN insisted that those famous aluminum tubes Iraq ... That inconclusive but potent
evidence was kept quiet in ... The hawks hyped the case (profusely) to prove we ...

GOP rejects Democratic call for probe on Iraq
Orange County Register, CA - Jun 13, 2003
... Documents indicating Iraq imported uranium from Niger were forgeries. ... But he repeated
his position that the administration hyped some weaker evidence in ...

Blair denies his government cooked Iraq evidence
Daily Star, Lebanon - May 30, 2003
... Instead, the Bush administration focused on Iraq’s ... not address the allegation that
his office hyped ... our intelligence agencies invent some piece of evidence ...

Coalition in ‘a race against time’ in Iraq A ‘very lethal ...
Monday Morning, Lebanon - 3 hours ago
... intelligence reports on Iraqi WMD may have been manipulated ... reports to the Security
Council, noting that no evidence had been found to prove that Iraq ...

UK Panel Rips Blair on Iraqi Weapons
San Jose Mercury News, CA - 13 hours ago
... That dossier claimed Iraq could fire chemical or biological ... is not a shred of evidence,
absolutely no evidence at all, that we have doctored or manipulated ...

Head of Senate intelligence panel says open hearings on WMD ...
NapaNet Daily News, CA - 7 minutes ago
... weapons of mass destruction have not been found in Iraq and accusations that some
evidence ... early to say whether the administration hyped or manipulated ...

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