Bush Statement on Iraq WMD Later Debunked (WH response to report)

http://www.heraldnewsdaily.com/stories/news-00174906.html

Bush Statement on Iraq WMD Later Debunked


WASHINGTON - President Bush ‘s claim three years ago that weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq was based on U.S. intelligence that was later proved false, the White House acknowledged on Wednesday.

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"The lead suggested that what the president was saying was based on something that had been debunked, and that is not true," McClellan said. "In fact, the president was saying something that was based on what the intelligence community — through the CIA and DIA — were saying."

"It‘s not something that, they will tell you, turns on a dime," McClellan said.

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Intelligence officials and the White House have repeatedly denied claims that intelligence was exaggerated or manipulated in the months before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The Iraq Survey Group concluded in 2004 that there was no evidence that Iraq produced weapons of mass destruction after 1991. It said Saddam Hussein ‘s ability to develop such weapons had diminished — not grown — during a dozen years of sanctions before last year‘s U.S.-led invasion.