Powell warned pre-war claims were dubious

[rawstory]

As seen on http://rawstory.com

By Greg Miller, Times Staff Writer
LA Times

WASHINGTON -- Days before Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was to present the case for war with Iraq to the United Nations, State Department analysts found dozens of factual problems in drafts of his speech, according to new documents contained in the Senate report on intelligence failures released last week.

Two memos included with the Senate report listed objections that State Department experts lodged as they reviewed successive drafts of the Powell speech. Although many of the claims considered inflated or unsupported were removed through painstaking debate by Powell and intelligence officials, the speech he ultimately presented contained material that was in dispute among State Department experts.

Powell's Feb. 5, 2003, speech to the United Nations was crafted by the CIA at the behest of the White House. Intended to be the Bush administration's most compelling case by one of its most credible spokesmen that a confrontation with Saddam Hussein was necessary, the speech has become a central moment in the lead-up to war.

<snip>

Offering the first detailed look at claims that were stripped from the case for war advanced by Powell, a Jan. 31, 2003 memo cataloged 38 claims to which State Department analysts objected. In response, 28 were either removed from the draft or altered to assuage analysts' objections, according to the Senate report, which was released Friday and included scathing criticism of the CIA and other U.S. intelligence services.

LA Times (registration-restricted): http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-powell15jul15,1,7897981.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Non restricted repost: http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=94

[pfitz59]

1. Powell is a lying sack...

He belongs on the docket with the rest of the hoods!

[FlemingsGhost]

2. War criminal. Traitor.

Do not allow this snake to slither away, America. He is not the voice of reason in the administration. I suspect the only reason he looks evenly remotely black, is beacuse he's dipped in Texas crude.

[thebigidea]

3. well maybe that piece of shit should've "warned" a little louder

[hansolsen]

4. Powell's speech to the U.N on WMD in Iraq, effectively ended Powell's

political career. It's over. And it is tragic. It is expecially tragic for young Black men who so desperately need black role models in high office.

[shockingelk]

5. he's LyING ABOUT LIES!

Fromn the article:

"I believed in what they gave me," Powell said in May. "I presented it to the United Nations on behalf of my country. And to the extent that it was not accurate, I'm disappointed."

From the IC report (p 252 - emphasis in original):

Secretary Powell said that the al-Musayyib site, a suspect chemical munitions storage site, had been used for "at least three years to transship chemical weapons from production facilities out to the field." The CIA told Committee staff that State Department speech writers crafted this statement from CIA input that "evidence of movement activity at this site went back as early as 1999." Intelligence provided to the Committee showed only that possible chemical transshipment activity had occurred at the facility and only in the spring of 2002.

The State Department wasn't given the intel definite shipments "for at least three years", it was given one piece of intel suggesting a single possible shipment in 2002! The speechwriters made up everything!







One possible shipment through the site turned into at least three years of certain shipments. Like magic!

[Hobarticus]

6. And to think people were talking about Powell and Cheney switching...

Can they find anyone in that big white house that can tell the truth?

This is nothing new. Remember his outburst, just before he went out before the UN? He threw some papers at his staffers and bellowed, "I can't read that shit!". He knew. The bastard knew. I was actually hoping that they would swap Cheney and Powell, so Edwards could cue up Powell's testimony before the UN during a debate.

[GoBlue]

7. Powell's a discriminating whore

He don't mind f*cking and s*cking but damned if he'll take it up the a**.

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. "Just a pinch of this here Anthrax "

Honest to God, he was being played like a character on Amos and Andy. Why was he so stupid about this. If he had refused he would be a big hero now, instead he is a dunce.

[wellst0nev0ter]

9. Oh, So All The Stuff About The Senate Intelligence Committee

report letting the Bushoviks off the hook and laying all the blame on the intelligence agencies turned out NOT to be true?

*is knocked over by a feather*