KAY REPORT ON IRAQI WMD MAY NOT BE RELEASED
In an astonishing reversal, the Bush Administration signaled
that it will not release the final report of the Iraq Survey
Group led by David Kay, which was intended to provide a
comprehensive assessment of the state of Iraqi weapons of mass
destruction programs.
"I would not count on reports," said National Security Advisor
Condoleezza Rice on September 22.
"David Kay is not going to be done with this for quite some
time... I suppose there may be interim reports. I don't know
when those will be, and I don't know what the public nature of
them will be," she said.
Her remarks came near the end of a press briefing and seem to
have gone unnoted.
fas.org
A story in the London Sunday Times two weeks ago said that the
Kay report had been "shelved" because the Iraq Survey Group
had found no evidence of Iraqi WMD and that a report might
never be published.
"Britain and America have decided to delay indefinitely the
publication of a full report on Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction after inspectors found no evidence that any such
weapons exist." ("Iraq Weapons Report Shelved" by David
Leppard, Sunday Times, September 14).
But in response to a reporter's question, the White House
dismissed the Times account.
"I haven't heard anything like that. David Kay continues to do
his work. He's been compiling massive amounts of documents
about Iraq's history of weapons of mass destruction and
weapons of mass destruction program," said White House
spokesman Scott McClellan on September 16.
fas.org
Secretary of State Colin Powell also recently reinforced
widespread expectations of an authoritative, near-term public
assessment of the Iraqi WMD program.
"Dr. Kay will be putting out a report in the very near future,
and I look forward to seeing it, as everyone else does," he
said on September 14:
fas.org
But now "everyone else" can forget about it, judging from Dr.
Rice's comments this week, because Dr. Kay will not be
"putting out" his report after all.
"The American people should be prepared for surprises," advised
David Kay at a July 31 news briefing. Indeed. |
