Kay Asks Why U.S. Thought Iraq Had WMD

Kay Asks Why U.S. Thought Iraq Had WMD


Jan 25, 9:15 PM (ET)

By SCOTT LINDLAW
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040126/D80A7GDO0.html


WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. intelligence agencies need to explain why their research indicated Iraq possessed banned weapons before the American-led invasion, says the outgoing top U.S. inspector, who now believes Saddam Hussein had no such arms.

"I don't think they exist," David Kay said Sunday. "The fact that we found so far the weapons do not exist - we've got to deal with that difference and understand why."

Kay's remarks on National Public Radio reignited criticism from Democrats, who ignored his cautions that the failure to find weapons of mass destruction was "not a political issue."

"It's an issue of the capabilities of one's intelligence service to collect valid, truthful information," Kay said. Asked whether President Bush owed the nation an explanation for the gap between his warnings and Kay's findings, Kay said: "I actually think the intelligence community owes the president, rather than the president owing the American people."

The CIA would not comment Sunday on Kay's remarks, although one intelligence official pointed out that Kay himself had predicted last year that his search would turn up banned weapons.

Somebody asked the CIA to produce reports which would indicate that Iraq had banned weapons, that's why.

See: 'Uncovered: the Whole Truth About the Iraq War'.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/nation/1607676
Houston Chronicle
Oct. 8, 2002, 10:47AM

Some administration officials expressing misgivings on Iraq

By WARREN P. STROBEL and JONATHAN S. LANDAY
Knight-Ridder Tribune News

WASHINGTON -- While President Bush marshals congressional and international support for invading Iraq, a growing number of military officers, intelligence professionals and diplomats in his own government privately have deep misgivings about the administration's double-time march toward war.

<snip>

They charge that the administration squelches dissenting views and that intelligence analysts are under intense pressure to produce reports supporting the White House's argument that Saddam poses such an immediate threat to the United States that pre-emptive military action is necessary.

"Analysts at the working level in the intelligence community are feeling very strong pressure from the Pentagon to cook the intelligence books," said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A dozen other officials echoed his views in interviews.

No one who was interviewed disagreed.

<snip>
None of the dissenting officials, who work in a number of different agencies, would agree to speak publicly, out of fear of retribution. But many of them have long experience in the Middle East and South Asia, and all spoke in similar terms about their unease with the way U.S. political leaders are dealing with Iraq.
<more>

Thanks. Remarkable that is was printed in Houston!

that whether Iraq had WMD's or not was irrelevant. They were going to get bombed no matter what.

Right now Kay is laying the blame on the intelligence community, but IF a legitimate probe is launched to get to the bottom of the discrepancy between the absence of WMD's in Iraq and the NIE report of 2002, they will see how pressure from the White House and the Pentagon caused those books to be cooked.

Too bad that's a mighty big IF.