Prewar Intelligence Efforts in Iraq Plagued With Mistakes, U.S. Intelligence Officials Say

U.S. prewar intelligence efforts in Iraq suffered from a variety of problems, including unreliable human sources and ineffective analyzing of intercepted communications and satellite imagery, the Los Angeles Times reported today (see GSN, June 16).

Two Iraqi informants recruited by British intelligence who provided information on Iraq’s alleged WMD efforts were never interviewed by the CIA and have now been deemed as unreliable, current and former U.S. intelligence officials said. Earlier this year, CIA Director George Tenet praised the two spies in a speech intended to defend the agency against criticisms over prewar Iraq intelligence. In his speech, Tenet noted the ties the two spies had “access” to the regime of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and said that the spies had reported that Iraq was seeking to develop nuclear weapons, had stockpiled chemical weapons and had worked to mislead U.N. weapons inspectors, the Times reported.

“Now, did this information make any difference in my thinking? You bet it did,” Tenet said in his February speech.

Tenet did not say in his speech, however, that both British-recruited Iraqi spies have been deemed suspect and there is no evidence to support their claims, according to the Times.

“It’s all fallen apart,” a former CIA official said. “Neither one had direct knowledge. They were describing what they had heard. They claimed to have knowledge, but they didn’t. They were hangers-on in the corridors of power, not insiders,” the official said.

In addition, U.S. intelligence analysts made mistakes when examining satellite photos taken over Iraq, according to the Times. For example, analysts often misinterpreted images of small, half-cylindrical sheds used in Iraq to house chickens. The analysts identified the buildings as possible Scud ballistic missile storage sites, leading two groups of U.N. weapons inspectors to search chicken farms for suspected missiles.

“We inspected a lot of chicken farms,” said a former U.N. inspector. In recognition of the failed searches, the former inspector’s U.N. team made T-shirts inscribed with “Ballistic Chicken Farm Inspection Team,” the Times reported (Bob Drogin, Los Angeles Times, June 17).

Meanwhile, the U.S. commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks said yesterday that it had found no evidence of connections between prewar Iraq and al-Qaeda, counter to claims made as recently as earlier this week by the Bush administration officials, according to the Washington Post.

While there had been contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda, there is no evidence of a “collaborative relationship” between the two, according to the commission. During a hearing yesterday of the panel, a senior FBI official and a senior CIA official agreed with the finding, the Post reported.

On Monday, however, Vice President Dick Cheney said that Hussein “had long-established ties with al-Qaeda” (Pincus/Milbank, Washington Post, June 17). Cheney aides said yesterday that the vice president has no plans to recant his allegations, despite the Sept. 11 commission’s findings, according to Reuters.

“The administration’s statements rest on a solid foundation of history and facts. The record of links between Iraq and al-Qaeda is clear to anyone who has open eyes and an open mind,” a White House official said yesterday (Adam Entous, Reuters/Yahoo!News, June 16).

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