| Date: | Tuesday July 08, @06:33PM |
|---|---|
| Author: | ewing2001 |
| Topic: | News |
| from the Financial-Times dept. | |
By Edward Alden, Hubert Wetzel, Guy Dinmore and James Harding in Washington - Financial Times -July 9 2003
The US government withheld from United Nations weapons inspectors evidence to back its claim that the Iraqi government had attempted to obtain uranium from Africa, despite repeated pledges to co-operate fully with the inspectors.
In a letter released yesterday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it was forced to wait six weeks for the evidence - from December 2002 to early February 2003 - at a critical time, when it was investigating US charges that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear programme.
During that period, the US several times repeated the allegations, most notably in President George W. Bush's January State of the Union address.
The letter, which was released by Democratic congressman Henry Waxman, came as political pressure grew on the administration over charges that it distorted intelligence to build its case for war on Iraq.
The Democratic National Committee called for a full investigation of Mr Bush's statements.
Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the DNC, said: "Either President Bush knowingly used false information in his State of the Union address or senior administration officials allowed the use of that information. This was not a mistake. It was no oversight and it was no error."
DER SPIEGEL -9. Juli 2003
DER SPIEGEL reports on "rising doubts" on Bush and picked up the press release report by Janice Schakowsky
"...Erst kam das zaghafte Eingeständnis der US-Regierung, dass Aussagen von Präsident George W. Bush vom Januar über versuchte Urankäufe Iraks in Afrika falsch waren. Nun fordern demokratische Abgeordnete eine Untersuchung der Vorgänge... ...Die Abgeordnete Janice Schakowsky stellte die Frage, ob die Regierung den Kongress wissentlich hinters Licht geführt und Geheimdienstinformationen fabriziert habe, um die öffentliche Unterstützung für einen Angriff auf Irak zu erhalten. "Hat Irak wirklich eine unmittelbare Bedrohung für unser Land dargestellt?", fragte sie..."
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printed from IraqGate: Atomic Agency was bribed by US to wait with "evidence" on 2004-05-25 21:38:36