Pentagon `Undercut' CIA on Pre-War Intelligence, Probe Finds

[sabra]

Source: Bloomberg

April 5 (Bloomberg) -- Defense Department officials ``undercut'' the U.S. intelligence community when making a case to White House officials that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had a close relationship with the al-Qaeda terror network, the Pentagon inspector general said in a declassified report.

Analysts reporting to former Undersecretary for Policy Douglas Feith told then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and Lewis Libby, the vice president's chief of staff, that there were ``fundamental problems with how the intelligence community is assessing information,'' the report shows.

The report concludes the Pentagon provided ``inappropriate'' analysis for its finding of a strong link between Hussein and al- Qaeda -- a finding that Vice President Dick Cheney cited as a rationale for invading Iraq along with the need to disarm the nation of weapons of mass destruction.

...

Levin, in a statement today, said the analysis from Feith's office ``was not supported by available intelligence and was contrary to the consensus view of the intelligence community'' yet was ``used by the administration to support its public arguments in its case for war.''

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=auxUqPTmsuAs&refer=home

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http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/feith-standards/

[Kagemusha]

1. What brief but depressing reading this is.

It's basically saying, "If the CIA can't prove Saddam's NOT working with Osama, we have to assume they are."

And that's all it was. An assumption.

[sabra]

4. reminds me the line BushCo used re: Saddam's WMD - "the burden of proof is on his shoulders"

[frogcycle]

6. wasn't even that

they didn't even assume it to be true. Just said "these are the facts we want to be true, so we discount anything that contradicts them"

[Kikosexy2]

16. No wonder Tommy..

Franks called Feith the dumbest f*#k in the whole world...

[orwell]

2. I'll file this under...

...No Shit Sherlock!

[EFerrari]

21. D for "Duh!"

[Justice]

3. this is the real story

[rodeodance]

5. whow------Sen. Levin has been working on this for 4 years--and now

it is paying off. I hope people are paying attention during bunny time.

[rodeodance]

7. REC

[Canuckistanian]

8. Now we're getting to the truth

And , as usual, much too late to prevent massive bloodshed.

Heckuva job, Feith.

Not like he'll ever see the inside of a jail cell.

[Amonester]

9. Maybe in Hell.

I HOPE in hell...

[peacetalksforall]

10. So why don't they just say it - P N A C - Rumsfeld Cheney plus

help and direction from AIPAC and AEI plus. Just say it - tell it like it is.

[The Doctor.]

11. And it was called "The Office of Special Plans"

From September of 2002 to February of 2003, Feith operated that particular office of disinformation.

We should really hold them up on that.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

12. Smoking gun - smirking chimp.

If the MSM fails to puruse this story, than all hope is lost.

[rcdean]

13. Why wasn't Stovepiping from an informal bureau like OSP illegal?

I believe the National Security Act of '48 as ammended specifies that intelligence info must be vetted by proper authorities (e.g. DCIA, DDIA, DONI, etc.) before going to the WH.

How was it legal for Cheney/Rumsfeld to set up an ad hoc agency that could stovepipe bullshit right into the WH.

Basically they knew what they wanted to hear, so they set up an office in the Pentagon that claimed to be an intel gathering office, though it had no formal basis in law. Then they got the charlatan, Chalabi, to feed them what they wanted, and fed it back to themselves as info from valid intelligence sources.

If that isn't circumventing the spirit if not the letter of the law, I'm amazed.

I can't believe we can't send Cheney to jail over this.

[donkeyotay]

14. 4 years too late are they saying the preznit didn't eat some bad intell?

Are they saying there was a conspiracy to defraud the US of it's Constitutional government and replace it with a cabal of warmongering defense privateers and agents operating for AIPAC's - no, more like the Likud's - policies? My. Well, I guess nothing will come of that. No news here. Just keep ponying up, America. This cabal is old, powerful, and not going away.

[calimary]

25. Just remember: "absense of evidence is not absence of evidence."

These people should burn in Hell. They lied to drag us all into war. They LIED to drag us all into WAR.

[Bigmack]

15. My wife was lining the parrot cage....

... yesterday with an old "Guardian Weekly". She read me the lead article headline..... "US Intelligence fears Iran duped hawks into Iraq war". It's about how Chalabi passed bogus intelligence from Iran to the mis-administration to pave the way to a Shia-ruled Iraq.

The piece was from June 2004... damn near three years ago.

Dumbya and his buddies have been outmaneuvered and bamboozled so many times during this thing that it's hard to tell what's merely a fuckup and what's actual evil on their part.

[EFerrari]

22. Stupid and evil are not mutually exclusive categories.

[DemGa]

17. "Feith's office "

Gee you'd think the writer might mention the name of Feith's office: "The Office of Special Plans." Some of the same people from OSP now run the "Iranian Directorate."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Directorate

[frogcycle]

19. sounds vaguely simlar to the "Ministry of Silly Walks"

except the Monty Python gang would be preferable to this crowd running the country

[19jet54]

18. Empire Building...

... you can't build your Military empire without a major conflict of some kind :patriot:

[sbyte]

20. I think they will pursue this further.

Of all the hearings I've seen, lately. I get the distinct impression that this Filth Guy is the most insoluble collaborator and needs to be taken down, else he will return another day to haunt U.S. .

[IWantAChange]

23. Who expected anything other than lies from Nixonites Cheney & Rumsfeld?

[kaal]

24. Not a single person here is shocked

That's the saddest part....

[Vidar]

26. Bush would use notes passed in a 3rd grade class to support his position.