Friday, February 09, 2007
(BN ) Pre-War Intelligence Acts `Inappropriate,' U.S. Finds
Pre-War Intelligence Acts `Inappropriate,' U.S. Finds (Update2)
2007-02-09 09:33 (New York)
(Adds quotes from summary in third and fourth paragraphs.)
By Tony Capaccio
Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Defense Department officials
acted inappropriately in preparing pre-war intelligence reports
that may have exaggerated links between Iraq and al-Qaeda, the
Pentagon inspector general found.
Two offices set up under then-Undersecretary for Policy
Douglas Feith before the March, 2003 invasion of Iraq produced
reports forming the basis of the key administration pre-war claim
that Saddam Hussein was a threat to provide weapons of mass
destruction to the terrorist group.
Feith's operation amounted to ``an alternative intelligence
assessment process'' that ``was predisposed to finding a
significant relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda,'' according
to a two-page summary of the report given yesterday to lawmakers.
``While such actions were not illegal or unauthorized, the
actions in our opinion were inappropriate'' because they didn't
``clearly show the variance with the consensus of the
intelligence community,'' the summary said.
``That's not much of a defense,'' said Senate Armed
Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, who requested the review
with Kansas Republican Senator Pat Roberts, the former chairman
of the Senate Intelligence Committee. ``That's the whole key,
these were inappropriate,'' Levin said. ``We never claimed they
were illegal.''
The executive summary of the report, released today at a
Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, is likely to resurrect a
debate on the pre-war claims that led to the war that next month
will enter its fifth year.
Relationship
Levin, a Michigan Democrat, and other critics have alleged
that assessments produced by the Pentagon office were skewed to
portray an active pre-war relationship between Hussein and the
al-Qaeda terrorist organization, while the intelligence community
saw virtually none. Following the U.S.-led invasion, al-Qaeda
operatives did become active in Iraq, targeting U.S. forces and
helping to foment sectarian violence.
``The Feith office is the one that produced the key
alternative analysis which provided that material,'' Levin said
in an interview. ``It was key, it was vital, it was what the
White House used to make the linkage to terrorist groups.''
The summary said that, in future, the Pentagon's closer
relationship with the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence, set up in 2005, will ``significantly reduce the
opportunity for inappropriate conduct of intelligence activities
outside of intelligence channels.''
One finding, Levin said, was that Feith's office in
September 2002 presented a briefing without Central Intelligence
Agency approval to the White House purporting a relationship
between Iraq and al-Qaeda that ``was not supported by the
available intelligence.''
Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz
The IG report said the ``inappropriate'' activities were
authorized by then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his
deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, Levin said.
The policy office ``developed, produced and then
disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq-al-
Qaeda relationship, which included some conclusions that were
inconsistent with the consensus of the of the intelligence
community,'' said the summary.
As a result, the Pentagon's policy office ``did not provide
the most accurate analysis of intelligence to senior policy
makers,'' the summary said.
``This condition occurred because of an expanded role and
mission'' of the policy office from ``policy formulation to
alternative intelligence analysis and dissemination,'' it said.
Feith, now a professor of national security policy at
Georgetown University in Washington who's writing a book on the
Iraq war, said the report shows ``everything we did was lawful
and authorized and we did not mislead Congress.''
Feith's Defense
``The issue of the appropriate process for policy people to
use to criticize intelligence work is minor compared to the key
conclusions,'' Feith said in a written statement.
Levin said he hasn't decided whether to call Feith to
testify before his committee.
Senator Christopher Bond of Missouri, the committee's senior
Republican, rejected the inspector general's conclusions.
``I strongly disagree,'' Bond said in a statement issued
early today. ``How can something that is `authorized' and `legal'
also be `inappropriate.' That doesn't pass the common sense
test.''
Pentagon officials had no immediate comment on the report,
said Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Karen Finn, a spokeswoman.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in his confirmation hearing
in December, responded ``I have a problem with that,'' when Levin
asked his views on the Feith operation.
Levin said the report is valuable because it casts new light
on the material the administration used to justify the war.
``If we are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past,
there has got to be accountability,'' Levin said. ``You just
repeat mistakes if there is no looking back and trying to find
out what the facts were and holding people accountable the best
way we can.''
--Editor: O'Connell (mgf/wfs).
Story Illustration: To read more stories about the war in Iraq,
see: {TNI IRAQ WAR <GO>}.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Tony Capaccio at +1-202-624-1911 or
acapaccio@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Forsythe at +1-202-624-1940 or
mforsythe@bloomberg.net
[TAGINFO]
NI CIA
NI STD
NI US
NI GEN
NI GOV
NI IRAQ
NI WAR
NI DEF
NI CNG
#<610728.429298.1.0.32.28506.25>#
-0- Feb/09/2007 14:33 GMT
2007-02-09 09:33 (New York)
(Adds quotes from summary in third and fourth paragraphs.)
By Tony Capaccio
Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Defense Department officials
acted inappropriately in preparing pre-war intelligence reports
that may have exaggerated links between Iraq and al-Qaeda, the
Pentagon inspector general found.
Two offices set up under then-Undersecretary for Policy
Douglas Feith before the March, 2003 invasion of Iraq produced
reports forming the basis of the key administration pre-war claim
that Saddam Hussein was a threat to provide weapons of mass
destruction to the terrorist group.
Feith's operation amounted to ``an alternative intelligence
assessment process'' that ``was predisposed to finding a
significant relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda,'' according
to a two-page summary of the report given yesterday to lawmakers.
``While such actions were not illegal or unauthorized, the
actions in our opinion were inappropriate'' because they didn't
``clearly show the variance with the consensus of the
intelligence community,'' the summary said.
``That's not much of a defense,'' said Senate Armed
Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, who requested the review
with Kansas Republican Senator Pat Roberts, the former chairman
of the Senate Intelligence Committee. ``That's the whole key,
these were inappropriate,'' Levin said. ``We never claimed they
were illegal.''
The executive summary of the report, released today at a
Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, is likely to resurrect a
debate on the pre-war claims that led to the war that next month
will enter its fifth year.
Relationship
Levin, a Michigan Democrat, and other critics have alleged
that assessments produced by the Pentagon office were skewed to
portray an active pre-war relationship between Hussein and the
al-Qaeda terrorist organization, while the intelligence community
saw virtually none. Following the U.S.-led invasion, al-Qaeda
operatives did become active in Iraq, targeting U.S. forces and
helping to foment sectarian violence.
``The Feith office is the one that produced the key
alternative analysis which provided that material,'' Levin said
in an interview. ``It was key, it was vital, it was what the
White House used to make the linkage to terrorist groups.''
The summary said that, in future, the Pentagon's closer
relationship with the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence, set up in 2005, will ``significantly reduce the
opportunity for inappropriate conduct of intelligence activities
outside of intelligence channels.''
One finding, Levin said, was that Feith's office in
September 2002 presented a briefing without Central Intelligence
Agency approval to the White House purporting a relationship
between Iraq and al-Qaeda that ``was not supported by the
available intelligence.''
Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz
The IG report said the ``inappropriate'' activities were
authorized by then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his
deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, Levin said.
The policy office ``developed, produced and then
disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq-al-
Qaeda relationship, which included some conclusions that were
inconsistent with the consensus of the of the intelligence
community,'' said the summary.
As a result, the Pentagon's policy office ``did not provide
the most accurate analysis of intelligence to senior policy
makers,'' the summary said.
``This condition occurred because of an expanded role and
mission'' of the policy office from ``policy formulation to
alternative intelligence analysis and dissemination,'' it said.
Feith, now a professor of national security policy at
Georgetown University in Washington who's writing a book on the
Iraq war, said the report shows ``everything we did was lawful
and authorized and we did not mislead Congress.''
Feith's Defense
``The issue of the appropriate process for policy people to
use to criticize intelligence work is minor compared to the key
conclusions,'' Feith said in a written statement.
Levin said he hasn't decided whether to call Feith to
testify before his committee.
Senator Christopher Bond of Missouri, the committee's senior
Republican, rejected the inspector general's conclusions.
``I strongly disagree,'' Bond said in a statement issued
early today. ``How can something that is `authorized' and `legal'
also be `inappropriate.' That doesn't pass the common sense
test.''
Pentagon officials had no immediate comment on the report,
said Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Karen Finn, a spokeswoman.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in his confirmation hearing
in December, responded ``I have a problem with that,'' when Levin
asked his views on the Feith operation.
Levin said the report is valuable because it casts new light
on the material the administration used to justify the war.
``If we are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past,
there has got to be accountability,'' Levin said. ``You just
repeat mistakes if there is no looking back and trying to find
out what the facts were and holding people accountable the best
way we can.''
--Editor: O'Connell (mgf/wfs).
Story Illustration: To read more stories about the war in Iraq,
see: {TNI IRAQ WAR <GO>}.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Tony Capaccio at +1-202-624-1911 or
acapaccio@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Forsythe at +1-202-624-1940 or
mforsythe@bloomberg.net
[TAGINFO]
NI CIA
NI STD
NI US
NI GEN
NI GOV
NI IRAQ
NI WAR
NI DEF
NI CNG
#<610728.429298.1.0.32.28506.25>#
-0- Feb/09/2007 14:33 GMT
# posted by I Dislike GWB @ 11:07 AM 
