C.I.A. HELD BACK IRAQI ARMS DATA, U.S. OFFICIALS SAY

[0007]

Source: NY Times

The Central Intelligence Agency was told by relatives of Iraqi scientists before the war that Baghdad's programs to develop unconventional weapons had been abandoned, but the C.I.A. failed to give that information to President Bush, even as he publicly warned of the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's illicit weapons, according to government officials.

snip...

Beginning in 2000, the C.I.A. contacted the relatives and asked them what they knew or could learn about the work being conducted by the scientists. Officials would not say how or where the relatives were contacted.
The relatives told the agency that the scientists had said that they were no longer working on illicit weapons, and that those programs were dead. Yet the statements from the relatives were never included in C.I.A. intelligence reports on Iraq that were distributed throughout the government. C.I.A. analysts monitoring Iraq apparently ignored the statements from the family members and continued to issue assessments that Mr. Hussein was still developing unconventional weapons, Senate investigators have found.

snip...

C.I.A. officials said in response that only the initial test results were reported in the intelligence assessment because those were the only results available at the time. When later results were available in January 2003, they were reported to the rest of the intelligence community, the officials said. The C.I.A. officials added that nearly all of the subsequent test failures were a result of failures of testing equipment, and that the few failures of tubes were at speeds that exceeded those required for centrifuges. The agency had asked the outside experts to push the tubes to their limits in the stress tests, and so their failure did not mean that the tubes could not be used in a centrifuge, the C.I.A. officials say.

The C.I.A.'s views on the tubes ultimately prevailed inside the Bush administration. Although the State Department's own analysts issued a dissent in the National Intelligence Estimate, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell went with the C.I.A. In his presentation to the United Nations in February 2003 laying out the administration's case against Iraq, he relied on the aluminum tubes to show that Mr. Hussein was rebuilding his nuclear weapons program.

Read more: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E02E7DF173BF935A35754C0A9629C8B63

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Could this be enough to start impeachment?

[merh]

1. Oh bullshit

We know that the EPA told members of the senate intelligence committee that the tubes were not weapon grade. As the Downing Street Minutes reflect, this admin was going to distort the intelligence any way it could to justify the invasion.

The Bush admin knew, yet again, they are trying to push the blame off on others.

This bunch is the most twisted, corrupt, cowardly bunch that have ever claimed to serve this nation.

[Me.]

7. Precisely

And well said. But what do you expect from a paper that would hire the neo-con in chief?

Happy New Year Merh, I hope there's a better one ahead for you and the people down your way.

[wtmusic]

2. Published: July 6, 2004

And all those trips made by Cheney to Langley had no effect on what the CIA reported to the Senate. Yah, sure.

Old, incorrect, and an attempt to exonerate Bush and Cheney from war crimes. The fat lady has yet to sing.

[LynnTheDem]

3. Two words...

BULL. SHIT.

SUMMER, 2002 – CIA WARNINGS (about lack of "WMD") TO WHITE HOUSE EXPOSED
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/unmovic/2003/0630selling.htm

OCTOBER 2002 – CIA DIRECTLY WARNS WHITE HOUSE(no yellowcake)

"The CIA sent two memos to the White House in October voicing strong doubts about a claim President Bush made three months later in the State of the Union address that Iraq was trying to buy nuclear materials in Africa."
http://www.care2.com/news/member/246814408/441130

FEBURARY 24, 2003 – CIA WARNS WHITE HOUSE ‘NO DIRECT EVIDENCE’ OF WMD
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3340723 /

Why the CIA thinks Bush is wrong

The president says the US has to act now against Iraq. The trouble is, his own security services don't agree.
http://www.sundayherald.com/28384

CIA in blow to Bush attack plans

The letter also comes at a time when the CIA is competing with the more hawkish Pentagon, which is also supplying the White House with intelligence on the Iraqi threat.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,808970,00.html

[EFerrari]

4. Did Dick Cheney write this?

WHAT A CROCK.

[spanone]

5. CIA = Fall Guy for bu$h* crime faminly

[fed-up]

6. so why are so many here rooting for any candidate that voted for the IWR?????

whoops, that should have been a reply to post #3

[DCKit]

9. Why did the House and Senate approve IWR? Because only 30% of us realized they were lying....

and the pressure from the remaining 70% as well as the false information supplied to the House and Senate by the administration and their enablers left them little choice.

Sure I like those who voted against the invasion better. They're smarter, more skeptical of Repuke lies, more perceptive, better judges of character (or the lack thereof) and not pushovers in response to bullying by cowardly chickenhawks.

Those of us who refuse to forgive that vote are doing nothing to help us move on and disable this administration. Get over it already and lost the irrational anger. We didn't all know they were lying us into a war and the country was/is still fractured by 9/11 - no thanks to the administration's continued harping about how much danger we're in.

Continued funding, you ask? Well, how would they look if they pulled funding and our troops were intentionally put in harms way simply to prove that Democrats didn't care about the troops? If you think that is beyond the capabilities of Dick and Dumbya, you haven't got a clue how low they'd go to get their way, cover their asses, prove they knew what they are doing and maintain whatever shreds of Republican power they could through 2010-2012.

[Blarch]

8. If this is a way to pass the buck

then I don't expect the CIA to swallow this pill, I expect them to strike back in some fashion.

[seemslikeadream]

10. Two words

William Kristol