Bob Graham on Tenet and the intel

[rodeodance]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/18/AR2005111802397.html



What I Knew Before the Invasion

By Bob Graham

Sunday, November 20, 2005; Page B07

.......At a meeting of the Senate intelligence committee on Sept. 5, 2002, CIA Director George Tenet was asked what the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) provided as the rationale for a preemptive war in Iraq. An NIE is the product of the entire intelligence community, and its most comprehensive assessment. I was stunned when Tenet said that no NIE had been requested by the White House and none had been prepared. Invoking our rarely used senatorial authority, I directed the completion of an NIE.

Tenet objected, saying that his people were too committed to other assignments to analyze Saddam Hussein's capabilities and will to use chemical, biological and possibly nuclear weapons. We insisted, and three weeks later the community produced a classified NIE.

There were troubling aspects to this 90-page document. While slanted toward the conclusion that Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction stored or produced at 550 sites, it contained vigorous dissents on key parts of the information, especially by the departments of State and Energy. Particular skepticism was raised about aluminum tubes that were offered as evidence Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear program. As to Hussein's will to use whatever weapons he might have, the estimate indicated he would not do so unless he was first attacked.

Under questioning, Tenet added that the information in the NIE had not been independently verified by an operative responsible to the United States. In fact, no such person was inside Iraq. Most of the alleged intelligence came from Iraqi exiles or third countries, all of which had an interest in the United States' removing Hussein, by force if necessary.......

[rodeodance]

1. well, we know that the truth would have blown their plan!

...Now I had come to question whether the White House was telling the truth -- or even had an interest in knowing the truth......

[Martin Eden]

2. Thanks for posting this! Recommended.

Senator Graham matter-of-factly destroys the Bush claim that Congress had access to the same intelligence as the White House.

[Uncle Joe]

3. That is long way from a "slam dunk". n/t