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Us questions prewar intelligence Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0828iraq-weapons28.html http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0828iraq-weapons28.html U.S. questions prewar intelligence Bob Drogin Los Angeles Times Aug. 28, 2003 12:00 AM WASHINGTON - Frustrated at the failure to find Saddam Hussein's suspected stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, U.S. and allied intelligence agencies have launched a major effort to determine if they were victims of bogus Iraqi defectors who planted disinformation to mislead the West before the war. The goal, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official, "is to see if false information was put out there and got into legitimate channels and we were totally duped on it." He added, "We're re-interviewing all our sources of information on this. This is the entire intelligence community, not just the U.S." The far-reaching review was started after a political firestorm erupted earlier this summer over revelations that President Bush's claim in his State of the Union speech that Iraq had sought to import uranium from Niger was based on forged documents. Although senior CIA officials insist defectors were only partly responsible for the intelligence that triggered the decision to invade Iraq last March, other intelligence officials now fear that key portions of the prewar intelligence may have been flawed. As evidence, officials say former Iraqi intelligence operatives have confirmed since the war that Saddam's regime sent "double agents" disguised as defectors to the West to plant fabricated intelligence. In other cases, Baghdad apparently tricked legitimate defectors into funneling phony tips about weapons production and storage sites. There is growing concern, one U.S. intelligence official said, that "people were just telling us what we wanted to hear." Saddam's motives for such a scheme may have been to bluff his enemies abroad, from Washington to Tehran, by sending false signals of his military might. Experts also say the dictator's defiance of the West, and its fear of his weapons of mass destruction, boosted his prestige at home and was a critical part of his power base in the Arab world.

Administration endorse forgery nuclear program Blix accuses uk and us of spin { September 18 2003 } Bush chastised rice fleischer { July 19 2003 } Bush declares his faith tenet cia { July 13 2003 } Bush defends cia intel darn good { July 14 2003 } Bush scapegoats cia for iraq error { July 12 2003 } Bush warned by cia before speech { July 23 2003 } Cia did not share doubt iraq data { June 12 2003 } Cia said cheney was wrong Cia studying err threat assessment { May 22 2003 } Cia warned whitehouse false iraqi nuclear claim { July 9 2003 } Colin powell plagiarised { February 6 2003 } Doubts grow over smoking gun { May 2 2003 } Evidence called fake { March 8 2003 } Evidence distorted for war Far from having nukes Germans warned iraq intelligence was bad { November 20 2005 } Insiders say intelligence skewed { May 30 2003 } Iraq intelligence hoax { May 31 2003 } Iraq weapons dossier rewritten { May 29 2003 } Kerry calls on bush truth about iraq Mobile labs balloon truck { June 8 2003 } More doubt of iraq weapons { May 30 2003 } Most think truth was stretched to justify war { February 13 2004 } No chemicals found No wmd smoking gun { March 30 2003 } Now bush claims weapons program only { June 9 2003 } Powell calls case bull shit Powell doubts over cia intelligence { June 2 2003 } Row over pre war intelligence Rumsfeld denies false pretext { May 29 2003 } Senator knew of bad intelligence kept quiet { April 27 2007 } Tenet says he corrected cheney privately { March 10 2004 } Tenet takes responsibility for false intelligence { July 11 2003 } Us modified report { December 19 2002 } Us questions prewar intelligence Weapons dossier sent back six times { June 6 2003 } White house used gossip to build case for war { November 21 2005 } Whitehouse didnt gain cia nod for claim { July 20 2003 } Woodward book powell misgivings about iraq { April 19 2004 } Woodward book says bush doubted iraq case { April 17 2004 } Files Listed: 41

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