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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (4106)	1/28/2003 12:42:09 AM
From: PartyTime	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25898

US to release intelligence. Is the nitty-gritty of the beef coming down the pike; or will it be but a little-itty-bitty of not much going nowhere? Bush to declassify info on concealed Iraqi weapons: report January 28 2003 Washington US President George W Bush has decided to declassify some intelligence information that shows Iraq has moved and hidden banned weapons from UN inspectors, The Washington Post reported on its website yesterday. Citing unnamed officials, the report said Bush could release the information as early as next week in a bid to convince reluctant allies and a wary US public of the need for military force in Iraq. But the sources told the paper US intelligence had not yet found any large cache of banned weapons or weapons supplies, and still had no definitive evidence to prove Iraq had chemical or biological weapons. The declassified information would show senior Iraqi officials and military officers had directed the operation to move and hide weapons, or had had knowledge of the operation, the report said. The movements came sometimes just hours before UN inspectors arrived, it added. "We will lay out the case that we can, and we will leave it to others to judge," a senior State Department official told the paper. "When you listen to it, it should be disturbing to those people who listen objectively. To those who have made up their minds and want to duck their heads in the sand, it will pass right over them." Mr Bush has faced mounting calls from US allies such as France to allow UN inspectors more time to determine whether Iraq has any weapons prohibited by the United Nations. At home, opinion polls showed Americans were increasingly wary of military action, and opposition Democrats today again called on Mr Bush to present proof Iraq had banned weapons.

To: stockman_scott who wrote (4106)	1/28/2003 12:48:29 AM
From: PartyTime	Respond to of 25898

How good is the intelligence of what's in Iraq? Not even chooks escape the inspectors' gaze January 28 2003 By Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Colum Lynch Baghdad As muddy labourers gawked and a mangy dog growled, 13 United Nations weapons inspectors swooped on an abandoned farm earlier this month, demanding to enter two locked brick buildings. The inspectors, a UN official said, had received a tip from a Western government that Iraq might have been hiding Scud missiles inside the buildings. Finding a banned Scud would give the Bush administration the "smoking gun" it has been desperately seeking, providing evidence that Saddam Hussein's government has been flouting UN Security Council resolutions ordering it to disarm. But when the inspectors finally got inside, after waiting for the better part of a day for the owner to return from a hunting trip, all they found were the remnants of a chicken-farming operation. Because the roof was too low and the doors too small, the inspectors concluded the site had never been - nor was ever likely to be - a missile silo. The January 15 visit illustrates how inspectors have expanded their activities as they have received more intelligence from the United States and other nations. The inspectors no longer confine searches to ammunitions storehouses, chemical plants, missile factories, university laboratories and other sites that have been connected to the country's weapons programs. Their agenda now is sprinkled with visits to new and unexpected places, including scientists' homes, abandoned airfields and chicken farms. But so far, the flow of outside intelligence has not led inspectors to clear evidence that Iraq still has - or is developing - weapons of mass destruction. US officials acknowledge they are not passing on their best intelligence because they fear sensitive information might be leaked to the Iraqis. But UN officials who believe Iraq still has banned weapons have grown increasingly frustrated that the tips are insufficient to find evidence of prohibited arms. "We know the Americans have concerns, but if they want to make their case . . . they should be more forthcoming with us," one UN official said. In the most detailed description of US intelligence-sharing with the inspectors, Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said last week the US had identified the names of Iraqi scientists and sites associated with Iraq's weapons programs that officials believe could lead the inspectors to uncover evidence of activity to develop banned arms. "We have provided our analysis of Iraq's nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programs, and we have suggested an inspection strategy and tactics," Mr Wolfowitz said in a speech in New York. "We have provided counter-intelligence support to improve the inspectors' ability to thwart Iraqi attempts to penetrate their organisations." After almost two months of daily searches, the inspectors have been unable to confirm US and British suspicions - outlined last year by the CIA and the British Government - that many former weapons sites and industrial plants had been rebuilt to produce banned weapons. Inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency have cast doubt on President George Bush's claim that Iraq was seeking to acquire aluminum tubes for use in a secret uranium enrichment program. The tubes, according to Mohamed ElBaradei, the agency's director-general, are consistent with efforts to reverse-engineer rockets. UN officials said Dr ElBaradei would present more evidence to the Security Council to substantiate the claim. UN officials declined to identify the country that supplied the information about the chicken farm in Dora, a farming community south of Baghdad. Two days after their visit, the inspectors went to another poultry farm on the outskirts of Baghdad based on an intelligence report that biological agents might be hidden there. After inspectors scoured the chicken coops and used ground-penetrating radar to determine whether anything was hidden under mounds of corn, they concluded that the report was false. - Washington Post theage.com.au