Senate to probe use of Iraq arms data
usatoday.com
Note: Repubs also will investigate whether intelligence
data was misused to make the case for Iraq.
Senate to probe use of Iraq arms data
By Jim Drinkard and Tom Squitieri, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Two Senate committees will investigate whether the Bush administration misused intelligence to make the case that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and justify a war to depose Saddam Hussein.
"People are challenging the credibility of the use of this intelligence, and particularly its use by the president, the secretaries of State and Defense, the CIA director and others," said Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Warner said in an interview that his panel and the Senate Intelligence Committee will convene a joint public hearing, probably this month, to look into "the intelligence methodology, how it was gathered and assessed." He said he also wants to find out "how that was passed on — in what form — to the policymakers, who then extrapolated what they wanted and put the emphasis on certain parts."
Warner emphasized that he has not come to any conclusions and wants to give the administration time to exhaust its search for banned weapons inside Iraq.
But he said hearings are needed because of "the depth and seriousness of this issue." His announcement was a clear sign that unease over possible manipulation of intelligence has grown in Congress.
Hearings will mean tough questions before TV cameras for some of the president's top officials — not just from Democrats, but from their fellow Republicans, who control the Capitol. The administration's future credibility could rest on the responses.
The concern has been fueled, in part, by the failure of U.S. troops to find banned weapons at the sites considered most likely by intelligence analysts. Two mobile labs that could be used to produce biological weapons have been found, but no trace of the germ weapons themselves have.
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said the administration has been cooperating with congressional inquiries and would continue to do so. The CIA already is conducting an internal review of the accuracy of its prewar intelligence.
The administration's contention that Iraq possessed nuclear, chemical and biological weapons or programs to produce them became the basis for a congressional vote last year approving the use of force against Iraq. Bush's doctrine of striking first to pre-empt threats from abroad put a particular burden on the accuracy of intelligence reports.
Warner recalled questioning Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and CIA Director George Tenet at a hearing in February about whether evidence would be found after the war to show the world that the weapons programs existed. "Both unequivocally said yes," Warner said.
Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and former Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, has questioned the administration's targeting of Iraq. A group of retired intelligence officers has raised similar questions.
Sunday, Graham said on CNN's Late Edition that the war in Iraq was "a diversion" of intelligence and military resources from the war on terrorism. He said that allowed the resurgence of al-Qaeda and a suicide bombing May 12 in Saudi Arabia, which killed 35. |
