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False Iraqi WMD Hopes Hinder Intelligence Reform, Kay Says
Former chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq David Kay said yesterday that lingering hopes within the Bush administration over finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq could hinder efforts to improve the U.S. intelligence-gathering process (see GSN, Feb. 12). Kay has said a number of times that there is no evidence that Iraq possessed stockpiles of biological or chemical weapons, nor was there evidence of active large-scale programs to produce those or nuclear weapons. U.S. President George W. Bush and other senior administration officials, however, have continued to say that such weapons could someday be found someday. “They could be hidden, they could have been transported to another country,” Bush said of alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction during an interview last week with NBC’s Meet the Press. In an interview with the Associated Press yesterday, Kay said that such hopes hurt needed efforts to reform U.S. intelligence. “My only serious regret about the continued holding on to the hope that eventually we’ll find it is that it eventually allows you to avoid the hard steps necessary to reform the process,” he said. Kay also acknowledged that political concerns may be behind the Bush administration’s continued hopes. “I suspect if I had their jobs I’d probably, to keep my sanity, be an eternal optimist about some things,” he said (Associated Press/USA Today, Feb. 13). IntelligenceMeanwhile, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence voted unanimously yesterday to expand its inquiry into prewar intelligence on Iraq to examining whether Bush administration officials exaggerated the intelligence to improve the case for war, according to the Washington Post. The decision to expand the committee’s inquiry “illustrates the commitment of all members to a thorough review, to learning the necessary lessons from our experience with Iraq, and to ensuring that our armed forces and policy-makers benefit from the best and most reliable intelligence that can be collected,” committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said in a statement (Dana Priest, Washington Post, Feb. 13). “We will address the question of whether intelligence was exaggerated or misused by reviewing statements by senior policy-makers to determine if those statements were substantiated by the intelligence,” said Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), the top Democrat on the intelligence panel. The new areas of investigation include whether Bush administration officials pressured intelligence analysts to shape their reports to fit policy objectives; the role of the U.S. Defense Department’s Office of Special Plans, which was set up to investigate possible links between prewar Iraq and al-Qaeda; and the use of intelligence provided by the Iraqi National Congress opposition group, according to a committee statement. The committee will also examine “whether public statements and reports and testimony regarding Iraq” by administration figures were “substantiated by intelligence information.” A senior committee aide said the panel has not determined how it would decide whether administration officials’ claims exaggerated the available intelligence. The committee, though, has collected claims and statements going back to the Clinton administration and the relevant intelligence reports, the aide said, adding, “All that has to be done now is the comparison” (Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 15). Yesterday’s vote rejected one line of inquiry sought by Democrats — the ability for the committee to use its subpoena power to examine whether Bush administration officials used information still undisclosed when making their claims on Iraq, according to the Washington Post. “It’s progress, but there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have a full inquiry,” Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said (Priest, Washington Post). Bush yesterday named the final two members of a nine-member commission that will investigate prewar intelligence on Iraq. The new members are Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Charles Vest and former Assistant Defense Secretary Henry Rowen (Associated Press/Los Angeles Times, Feb. 13). Senator Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) criticized the commission yesterday, saying it would not have the resources needed to adequately carry out its work. “Americans deserve an explanation … but this commission seems designed more to shield the administration from accountability than to perform a true service,” he said. White House spokesman Jim Morrell rebuffed Corzine’s criticism, though, saying the commission “will have the independence and the resources to do its job” (Chris Mondics, Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 13).
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