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Cia condemned for flawed intelligence Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=448040 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=448040 CIA condemned for flawed intelligence on Iraqi weapons By Andrew Buncombe in Washington 29 September 2003 The intelligence used by the CIA to conclude that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and had links to al-Qa'ida has been severely criticised by leaders of a high-ranking Congressional committee as being "outdated, circumstantial, piecemeal and fragmentary". They said the agency's ability to gather fresh information had "significant deficiencies". In a scathing attack on the information cited by President George Bush and his senior officials as they made their case for war, the leaders of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, said the CIA had relied on "past assessments" that dated from 1998 when UN weapons inspectors left Iraq. "The absence of proof that chemical and biological weapons and their related development programmes had been destroyed was considered proof that they continued to exist," the committee leaders said in a letter to the CIA director, George Tenet. Controversy over America's failure to find the weapons of mass destruction that the Bush administration insisted Iraq possessed has been growing since US and British forces ousted Saddam Hussein and occupied the country. And, this week, America's senior weapons inspector, David Kay, is expected to report that his team of 1,400 officials and special forces soldiers have still uncovered no evidence of WMD. But the criticism by the leaders of the Republican-controlled intelligence committee will be of particular embarrassment to the Bush administration, given the sympathies of the chairman, Porter Goss. Mr Goss is a former CIA agent and a long-time supporter of the often beleaguered Mr Tenet. His letter to Mr Tenet containing the criticisms was also signed by the committee's senior Democrat. The letter said: "Lack of specific intelligence in regime plans and intentions, WMD and Iraq's support to terrorist groups appears to have hampered the [intelligence community's] ability to provide a better assessment to policy-makers from 1998 [until] 2003." The letter followed a review by the intelligence committee of 19 volumes of classified material used by the CIA when drawing up its secret 2002 national intelligence estimate (NIE) on Iraq. This was considered the most comprehensive assessment of Iraq's capability available to the Bush administration and was regularly cited as the case for war against Saddam was made. The administration has been on the back foot as it becomes increasingly clear the discovery of any WMD in Iraq is extremely unlikely. Yesterday, the President's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was the latest senior official to defend the intelligence used by Mr Bush. "The President believes he had very good intelligence going into the war," she said on a US television talk show. "There was enrichment of the intelligence from 1998 over the period leading up to the war. And nothing pointed to a reversal of Saddam Hussein's very active efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction. It was very clear this continued and it was a gathering danger." The CIA also defended its intelligence-gathering. In a statement, spokesman Bill Harlow, said: "In the post-1998 period, the intelligence community launched a sustained effort to enhance our unilateral understanding of Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction programmes. From all of our disciplines, important gains were made." Mr Harlow said the intelligence committee had "yet to take the time to fully evaluate how the NIE was constructed and why and on what specific basis judgements and findings were reached by our national intelligence officer and analysts". 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd

tubes uranium weapons-declaration Blair admits weapons may never be found { January 12 2004 } Blair admits wmds may never be found { July 6 2004 } Blair decided regime change april 2002 despite rhetoric { May 2 2005 } Blix accuses fabricating evidence { April 12 2003 } Blix report doubts wmd { June 2 2003 } British doctored wmd dossier { May 29 2003 } Bush declines to back call for intelligence probe Bush jokes about finding wmds Bush says war worth it despite no wmds Bush says weapons will be found Chemical weapons plant created after invasion { August 14 2005 } Children play with uranium tubes Cia condemned for flawed intelligence Cia operative asked to falsify wmd report { December 9 2004 } Classified study doubts weapons in 2002 Documents concerning uranium came from italy { October 25 2005 } Fbi says profit motivated italian uranium forgery Germ trailer evidence rejected { June 7 2003 } GWB_WMD_Memo [pdf] Inspector reports iraq had no WMD Iraq declared al samoud missiles { April 29 2003 } Iraq destroyed wmd 1995 Iraq may have destroyed wmd { May 27 2003 } Kay blames cia for no wmd Kurds help find wmd lab { May 7 2003 } Mccain picked for iraq intelligence probe Might have to be planted New inspections to plant weapons { April 8 2003 } New reports on us planting wmds in iraq No firm evidence banned weapons { April 7 2003 } No reliable evidence of iraqi weapons { June 6 2003 } No reliable information wmd { June 6 2003 } No weapons found in iraq says report No wmd found but { February 14 2003 } No wmds found in iraq { September 24 2003 } Nuclear program materials still buried { June 26 2003 } Officer refused falsify wmd reports Panel assails CIA for failure on iraq weapons { March 29 2005 } Powell says new data may have affected war decision { February 3 2004 } Powell says wmd stocks wont be found Powell says wmd un speech blot on record Presidential report is critical of intelligence agencies Questions on blair intelligence { April 21 2003 } Report says intel on wmd was dead wrong { March 31 2005 } Rockefeller says weapons should been found { May 29 2003 } Saddam had no weapons in 2003 { October 6 2004 } Saddam says wmd excuse for war Scientist says arms kept till war { April 21 2003 } Scientist surrenders says no wmd Search for wmds in iraq ended last month { January 12 2005 } Sen Durbin jan 26 06 on iraq wmds [mp3] Sen Durbin jan 26 06 on iraq wmds Senate panel blames bad iraq intelligence on CIA Senators told iraqi weapons could hit east coast Seniors sources ruled out finding wmds { July 10 2003 } Skepticism on bushs weapons claims grow { May 22 2003 } Smoking gun wmd site just pesticide Task force unable find wmd { May 11 2003 } Team hunting iraq WMD ends its search { January 12 2005 } Test barrels nerve agent Us adds teams hunt { April 27 2003 } Us not inspected iraq nuclear facility { April 25 2003 } US team concludes saddam had no wmd { April 26 2005 } Us withdraws team of weapons hunters { January 8 2004 } Usa and uk lied war pretext Usa will falsify wmd Weapons hunter quits says doubts they exist Wmd intelligence was falisified { February 15 2004 } Wmd proof [jpg] Files Listed: 69

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