US intel on Iraq-Qaeda ties 'intentionally misleading': document Mon Nov 7, 6:50 AM ET
US military intelligence warned the Bush administration as early as February 2002 that its key source on Al-Qaeda's relationship with Iraq had provided "intentionally misleading" data, according to a declassified report.
Nevertheless, eight months later, President George W. Bush went public with charges that the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein had trained members of Osama bin Laden's terror network in manufacturing deadly poisons and gases.
These same accusations had found their way into then-secretary of state Colin Powell's February 2003 speech before the UN Security Council, in which he outlined the US rationale for military action against Iraq.
"This newly declassified information provides additional, dramatic evidence that the administrations pre-war statements were deceptive," said Democrat Carl Levin, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who pushed for partial declassification of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) document.
The report provides a critical analysis of information provided by Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, an Islamic radical and bin Laden associate, who served as senior military trainer at a key Al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan before it was destroyed by US forces in late 2001.
In captivity, al-Libi initially told his DIA debriefers that Al-Qaeda operatives had received training from Iraq in manufacturing poisons and deadly chemical agents.
But the DIA, according to its assessment, did not find the information credible.
US military intelligence officers concluded that al-Libi lacked "specific details on the Iraqis involved, the... materials associated with the assistance and the location where training occurred," the report said.
"It is possible," the document went on to say, "he does not know any further details; it is more likely this individual is intentionally misleading the debriefers."
The DIA suggested al-Libi, who had been under interrogation for several weeks, "may be describing scenarios to the debriefers that he knows will retain their interest."
Just the same, president Bush insisted during an October 2002 trip to Cincinnati, Ohio, that his administration had learned that "Iraq has trained Al-Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases."
He repeated the same charge in February 2003.
The administration's drumbeat over alleged Iraq-Qaeda ties reached a crescendo that same month when Powell went before the United Nations to accuse Iraq of hiding tons of chemical and biological weapons and nurturing nuclear ambitions.
His speech, according to congressional officials, even contained a direct reference to al-Libi's testimony, albeit not his name.
"I can trace the story of a senior terrorist operative telling how Iraq provided training in these weapons to Al-Qaeda," insisted the secretary of state, who now says he regrets voicing many of the charges contained in that speech.
The unveiling of the documents came as Senate Democrats are stepping up pressure on their Republican colleagues, trying to force them to complete a second report on pre-war intelligence that would focus on whether members of the Bush administration had misused or intentionally misinterpreted intelligence findings.
The first report on the role of US intelligence agencies in the run-up to the war was released in June 2004.
Jay Rockefeller, the top Democrat of the Senate intelligence committee, said the case of al-Libi illustrates the need to look into how pre-war intelligence was used.
"He's an entirely unreliable individual upon whom the White House was placing substantial intelligence trust," the senator said of al-Libi Sunday. "And that is a classic example of a lack of accountability to the American people."
bull -- it's about a thousand pages -- just which pages do you want me to read
in the meantime -- Bush will measure up to HST, maybe even Lincoln -- we will see what the next 3 years brings -- lol ============== Bullish on Bush Don't be fooled by low approval ratings.
BY EZZIE GOLDISH Monday, November 7, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST
Where does President Bush go from here? U.S. deaths in Iraq hit 2,000, which sadly had the antiwar crowd celebrating. Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination for the Supreme Court, which had just about everybody celebrating but Mr. Bush. Syria plotted to kill a Lebanese leader, and the leader of the world organization responsible for doing something about it tried to protect Syria instead. Sen. Tom Coburn put forward at least two amendments to cut pork, and just 13 senators voted for it--including only one Democrat, Russ Feingold, who is looking more and more like a great presidential candidate who sticks to his principles.
Things seem to look terrible for President Bush--and yet, I think this is going to turn into a great success story.
Think long-term. There are two major actions Bush made in his first term: toppling Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq and cutting taxes. The Iraqi people, for all the horrible things that are still happening there, are progressing very nicely, including passing a constitution, just a couple of years after the war. That is a major success story, and somewhat unprecedented in history. Meanwhile, the economy has been running so well that nobody even brought it up for a while until the hurricanes hit--and yet gross domestic product rose at a 3.8% annualized rate anyway. Mr. Bush is, wisely, sticking to his guns and refusing to raise taxes to make up the losses, as taxes would not solve the problem, only exacerbate it.
This forced the country to think of other ways of coming up with revenue--notably, not wasting it on pork projects. Bloggers rallied (and still are rallying) with Porkbusters, while Sen. Coburn pushed to cut the pork in the Senate. At the same time, Mr. Bush's nomination of Ms. Miers met with opposition by conservatives and liberals alike, most importantly conservative bloggers. After enough poor feedback and other issues, Ms. Miers withdrew.
Mr. Bush, meanwhile, had the time and reasons to refocus. He nominated Samuel Alito in place of Ms. Miers, and the Democrats will have a hard time convincing Americans that this nomination is worth a filibuster--especially when they've spoken so highly of him in the past. Toss in the threat of the nuclear option to get rid of filibusters, and the likelihood of Judge Alito not making it to the bench is extremely low. Add in Chief Justice John Roberts, and Mr. Bush's impact on the court could be felt for 30 years. Meanwhile, if the president does begin cutting pork from the budget, the already decreasing deficit could disappear--an incredible feat for a president who has presided over both 9/11 and a slew of major hurricanes.
Toss in the Middle East: In the next three years or so, Iraq should slowly grow stronger and stronger. If the U.S. decides to take action against Syria (or Iran, for that matter), the already changing Middle East will learn democracy even faster. Mr. Bush's allowing Israel to direct the path it takes is proving wise, forcing the Palestinian people to choose democracy or terror. While it is still unclear which will win out, at least now they are battling over it.
If the president would also work on Social Security, he could go down as one of the most effective Presidents in history. His nomination of Ben Bernanke to succeed Alan Greenspan as the Fed chairman was received with . . . quiet. The little that has been said has been mostly positive; randomly clicking around on DemocraticUnderground.com shows that the left thinkers believe him to be an excellent choice, much as the right does. If he can help push the necessity to fix Social Security, to make the tax cuts permanent, and to seriously consider a different tax system, Mr. Bush will have covered just about every major issue--both foreign and domestic.
The biggest trick is to let his policies stay in place for as long as possible. Most of his policies take the right approach--long-term fixes so problems do not recur; planned-out ideas that do not rely on external revenues (taxes, etc.) or fixes to sustain themselves. Unfortunately, many politicians rely on short-term fixes that make people happy enough to keep poll numbers high. It will take a dedicated president to let Mr. Bush's policies ride their course and build up this country and the rest of the world.
If--and this is not a small if--the people and politicians of this country can support the president, and if Mr. Bush himself can refocus his energies on doing what is in the best interests of this country for the long term, rather than trying to broker compromises that serve nobody's interests, this country will be far better off. I think that the current situations have allowed Mr. Bush to realize this, and we will look back on this somewhat darker hour as the turnaround point of this presidency. In the end, Mr. Bush will use this opportunity to push the proper--long-term--agendas and set this country for a healthy, prosperous, and safe future.
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