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Kay Reports Finding No Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction, But Some Biological Warfare “Activities”By David Ruppe They also have found no evidence that Iraq had active nuclear or chemical weapons programs when U.S. and British forces invaded last March, nor have they discovered any evidence of biological weapons production, though they did find evidence suggesting clandestine research activity on weapons-capable biological agents, he said. The 1,200-member, U.S.-sponsored team, called the Iraq Survey Group, also ruled out the possibility that two equipment-laden trailers found this spring in Iraq were intended for mobile biological weapons production (see GSN, Aug. 11), despite U.S. President George W. Bush’s May declaration that the trailers proved “we found the weapons of mass destruction” (see GSN, June 2). In addition, Kay reported that no information has been uncovered to indicate that Iraq had prepared chemical rounds for rapid deployment against the invading forces (see GSN, Sept. 30). Despite the lack of weapon discoveries, Kay said his team has uncovered “dozens of WMD-related program activities” and equipment previously concealed from U.N. inspectors. He said his conclusions were preliminary and that further investigation is warranted. “We have not yet found stocks of weapons, but we are not yet at the point where we can say definitively either that such weapons stocks do not exist or that they existed before the war and our only task is to find whether they have gone,” Kay said in testimony to a joint hearing of the House and Senate intelligence committees that was released to the public. “We are still very much in the collection and analysis mode,” he said. The Bush administration had cited a threat posed by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to make its case for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which began last March and the subsequent occupation. Some officials had said there was evidence Iraq was attempting to develop nuclear weapons and that they feared Iraq might one day share them with terrorists. Invading U.S. military forces did not report finding any banned weapons, however, and the Bush administration has been criticized for using the survey group instead of the standing U.N. arms inspection commission to search for banned weapons. The group so far has spent an estimated $300 million on the search and the administration reportedly is asking for another $600 million and six to nine months more to continue the investigation, according to the New York Times. No Visible Nuclear or Chemical Weapons Programs Kay said deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein wanted to obtain nuclear weapons and would have if U.N. sanctions had been lifted. He said, though, that “to date we have not uncovered evidence that Iraq undertook significant post-1998 steps to actually build nuclear weapons or produce fissile material.” He said there was no indication of activities related to an Iraqi centrifuge enrichment program. U.S. intelligence agencies had previously reported that Iraqi had tried to import aluminum tubes for uranium enrichment centrifuges. Kay’s team did find, however, some evidence that Iraq took steps to preserve some technological capability from its pre-1991 nuclear weapons program. Kay also said Iraq appeared to have no significant chemical weapons program. “Multiple sources with varied access and reliability have told ISG that Iraq did not have a large, ongoing, centrally controlled CW program after 1991,” he said. “Information found to date suggests that Iraq’s large-scale capability to develop, produce, and fill new CW munitions was reduced — if not entirely destroyed — during Operations Desert Storm and Desert Fox, 13 years of U.N. sanctions and U.N. inspections,” he said. Biological Weapons Activities Suspected While Kay indicated no evidence of biological weapons stores or production, he said the group uncovered “significant information” indicating “biological warfare activities,” including “research and development of BW-applicable organisms, the involvement of Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) in possible BW activities, and deliberate concealment activities.” “All of this suggests Iraq after 1996 further compartmentalized its program and focused on maintaining smaller, covert capabilities that could be activated quickly to surge the production of BW agents,” he said. In particular, he said a reference strain of a biological organism that could be used to produce biological weapons was found concealed in a scientist’s home and that “new research on BW-applicable agents, Brucella and Congo Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), and continuing work on ricin and aflatoxin” that was not reported to U.N. inspectors was uncovered. Kay said a prison that might have been used for biological weapons testing on humans had been “explicitly ordered” not to be declared to the United Nations. He said investigators have begun to uncover a “clandestine network of laboratories and facilities” within Iraq’s intelligence apparatus that was not declared to U.N. inspectors. “We are still working on determining the extent to which this network was tied to large-scale military efforts or BW terror weapons, but this clandestine capability was suitable for preserving BW expertise, BW capable facilities and continuing R&D — all key elements for maintaining a capability for resuming BW production,” he said. Milton Leitenberg, a professor and arms control expert at the University of Maryland, said today the evidence Kay has produced so far on Iraqi biological agent activities does indicate a biological weapon program was underway, though a “little” one. “I think there are no problems answering that there are no stockpiles, there are no weapons in the sense of munitions, there are no bulk agents. “But I don’t think you can say those things [Kay described] aren’t part of a program. Every one of them is a material breach. There shouldn’t have been a pathogen in a refrigerator. There shouldn’t have been any equipment in a mosque. There shouldn’t have been those two dozen or 20 laboratories in the Iraqi intelligence service,” Leitenberg said. Two Trailers Ruled Out Prior to the invasion, U.S. officials had said Iraq possessed trailers containing specialized equipment that were apparently intended for mobile biological weapons production and at least two suspected trailers were later found by occupying forces. Kay’s report yesterday said the Iraq Survey Group was yet “unable to corroborate the existence of a mobile [biological weapons] BW production effort.” It said an investigation ruled out the two trailers were intended for biological weapons production and other suspected purposes, saying “technical limitations would prevent any of these processes from being ideally suited to these trailers.” Kay said the group has identified individuals who were at one time part of a mobile program and would continue to search for evidence of its existence. Chemical Weapons Attack Plans Discounted The Iraq Survey Group has also found no evidence that Iraq had prepared chemical weapons rounds for quickly attacking invading U.S. and British forces. Kay said the inspectors “acquired information related to Iraq’s CW doctrine and Iraq’s war plans for [countering the invasion], but we have not yet found evidence to confirm prewar reporting that Iraqi military units were prepared to use CW against coalition forces.” A British document controversially claimed an Iraqi order had been given to be capable of launching a chemical attack in 45 minutes. President George W. Bush in September 2002 had restated that claim and the White House had issued a statement saying Iraq “could launch a biological or chemical attack 45 minutes after the order is given.” As for Iraq’s ballistic missile efforts, the Kay’s team found evidence that Iraq was engaged in missile development activities “that would have, if [the invasion] had not occurred, dramatically breached U.N. restrictions placed on Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War.” “The Iraqis were engaged in a very full-scale program that would have extended their delivery systems out beyond 1,000 kilometers,” Kay told reporters after the hearing.
From October 3, 2003 issue.Amid Mounting Criticism, Rumsfeld Defends Iraq IntelligenceBy Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON ― As top U.S. weapons hunter David Kay told lawmakers his teams have “not yet found stocks of weapons” of mass destruction in Iraq — but cannot say for sure that no such weapons were present when the U.S. war in Iraq began — U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday defended controversial prewar intelligence on Iraq’s alleged WMD programs and how the Bush administration used the intelligence (see related GSN story, today). Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon briefing that he has seen nothing that indicates prewar intelligence on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s WMD programs was “necessarily, in the aggregate, inaccurate.” He added that there was “no debate” at the United Nations before the war “as to whether or not Saddam Hussein had these programs under way.” “The only debate in the U.N. was whether or not you should wait longer and allow another resolution before deciding that the inspectors weren’t finding it,” said Rumsfeld. The defense chief’s comments appeared to be at odds with statements by antiwar parties early this year in the U.N. Security Council. Russian U.N. Ambassador Sergei Lavrov said March 4 that Russia's “own data does not confirm the U.S. charges” about Iraq’s weapons programs. On March 7, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei and U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission head Hans Blix told the council they had found no evidence to support U.S. charges of revived Iraqi weapons programs but needed more time. On March 19, as U.S. troops prepared to enter Iraq, Blix said that “3 1/2 months of work carried out in Iraq have not brought the assurances needed about the absence of weapons of mass destruction” and expressed regret that “no more time is available for our inspections.” Rumsfeld’s comments yesterday came a week after leaders of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee wrote CIA Director George Tenet to criticize last October’s national intelligence estimate and amid increasing questions about how much influence top administration officials had in preparing the document, which administration members cited frequently in making the case for war. Rumsfeld said he has “never seen anything that was perfect” in the area of intelligence and added, in an apparent reference to the format of the national intelligence estimate, “The collective judgment, with a footnote saying, ‘I don’t agree with that,’ ends up getting circulated.” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Senior Associate Joseph Cirincione called Rumsfeld’s portrayal of the intelligence “a rewrite of history.” “The October 2002 NIE is notable for two things. It was the NIE with the most dissents, and the most serious dissents, of any NIE in memory, and … it was strikingly different from all Iraq threat assessments that preceded it. So the question is, what went on with that NIE? Who intervened to make that NIE come out the way it did?” Cirincione said. The answer, he said, is that Vice President Dick Cheney’s office and the Defense Department’s Office of Special Plans heavily influenced the preparation of the intelligence report. Rumsfeld characterized Kay’s report yesterday as “some sort of an interim report,” adding that U.S. weapons hunters “have a lot of work left to do,” including visits to a number ― described by Rumsfeld as “quite low” ― of “suspect sites” they have not yet visited. “Trying to, you know, make an early decision on it, it seems to me, would be not something that I’d have the confidence in doing,” Rumsfeld said. Asked about a New York Times report that $600 million of the $87 billion the Bush administration is seeking for activities in Iraq is for continuing the WMD search, Rumsfeld said, “It’s classified.” Asked why, he replied, “I don’t classify these things.” In related news, Maj. Gen. David Cone yesterday criticized prewar intelligence about what advancing U.S. troops could expect in a battle for Iraq’s capital. The remarks came as Cone briefed the press on an effort he has led to determine the U.S. military’s “lessons learned” from the Iraq war. “I don’t think the intelligence was good at all in terms of what we expected from an enemy inside the city,” Cone said. Asked about prewar concerns that the tactics of Iraqi forces defending Baghdad could include use of weapons of mass destruction, Cone said U.S. commanders told him that, before arriving in Baghdad, they believed “the question was when they would use it, not if they would use it.”
From October 3, 2003 issue.Investigation Into CIA Agent’s Identity Leak Scheduled to Begin in DaysU.S. Justice Department officials will begin interviewing Bush administration officials in the next few days to find the source of the apparently politically motivated exposure of a undercover CIA agent, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, Sept. 30). “We will move quickly to interview likely suspects in the next few days,” a Justice Department official said. The CIA agent was identified to the media after her husband — former Ambassador Joseph Wilson — openly criticized the Bush administration’s justification for invading Iraq. The quick action could be an effort to undermine Democratic calls for an independent counsel to investigate the leak, according to the Post. Justice Department officials also intend to investigate administration officials at the Defense and State departments (Schmidt/Allen, Washington Post, Oct. 3). “We will cooperate fully,” said State Department spokeswoman Susan Pittman. Justice Department officials have sent “do not destroy” letters to both agencies, asking officials to hold on to phone logs, e-mail and other evidence (Associated Press/Baltimore Sun, Oct. 3). “One of the first steps is you have to determine the universe of people who had access to the information,” said Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo. Meanwhile, Republican aides sought to portray the situation as concocted by scandal-seeking Democrats. “If you make it a partisan squabble, it casts doubt on the whole story and people tune it out,” said a House Republican aide. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said yesterday that Democrats are trying to “sensationalize this issue.” “Unfortunately, there are some that are looking through the lens of political opportunism,” he said (Schmidt/Allen, Washington Post).
From October 2, 2003 issue.Iraqi WMD Hunt Expected to Cost $1 Billion; Kay to Report No Discoveries TodayWhile the CIA’s top Iraqi WMD hunter was expected to tell the U.S. Congress today that he has made no conclusive discoveries, the Bush administration is seeking an additional $600 million for the search. Combined with money already spent, the total spent on combing Iraq for WMD evidence is expected to near $1 billion, according the New York Times (see GSN, Sept. 26). The money is requested in a classified portion of the administration’s $87 billion supplemental budget request to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The WMD search is being conducted by the Iraq Survey Group, a 1,200-member Defense Department unit whose activities are directed by CIA representative David Kay, a former U.N. inspector. Kay was scheduled to testify today in closed sessions of the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He was not expected to report any conclusive findings (see GSN, Sept. 25). The additional money would expand the size of Kay’s team to 1,400. Some former group members have complained that the search is poorly organized and overfunded. They told the Times that search teams have spent days and weeks in Baghdad waiting to receive orders. “Even when hot tips have come in, it often takes days to mobilize a unit to visit a suspect site or talk to a suspect scientist,” one former group member said. Others have criticized the spending practices of the group, charging that the group devoted its first weeks in Iraq to erecting air-conditioned trailers, new food service facilities, new computer hardware and software, and even a sprinkler system for a lawn. “They kept unloading crates and crates of new Dell laptops,” said a Pentagon official (Risen/Miller, New York Times, Oct. 2). Iraqi Diplomat Denies Seeking Nigerien Uranium A former Iraqi diplomat, once suspected by the United States of trying to acquire uranium from Niger, has denied even knowing that Niger mined the ore, Time reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 11). Wissam al-Zahawie, a career Iraqi diplomat since 1955, was at the center of the now-questionable U.S. claim that Baghdad surreptiously sought to acquire uranium from Niger to provide material for Iraq’s suspected nuclear weapon program. In his January State of the Union speech, U.S. President George W. Bush claimed that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from an African country, but a subsequent investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency showed that U.S.-held diplomatic documents describing the deal were actually forgeries. In 1999, while serving as Iraq’s ambassador to the Vatican, al-Zahawie was ordered to visit several African nations to encourage their leaders to visit Baghdad. Iraq’s leadership hoped such visits would weaken the travel embargo to Iraq established following the 1991 Gulf War, he said. “Frankly, I didn’t know that Niger produced uranium at all,” al-Zahawie said. Al-Zahawie toured several African countries in early 1999 and successfully persuaded Niger’s then-President Ibrahim Bare Mainassaura to travel to Iraq. Mainassaura was the only leader who accepted the invitation, but never made the trip because he was assassinated in April 1999. In January 2003, al-Zahawie was interviewed repeatedly by U.N. inspectors who probed for information about his travels and the suspicious documents, he told Time. He explained to the inspectors that Iraqi diplomatic documents were of two types, official notes that featured a government seal but were unsigned and correspondence between dignitaries that had no seal but were signed. The U.N. officials questioned al-Zahawie about a letter dated July 6, 2000 that purported to describe the uranium deal, he said. The officials told him that the letter had both a seal and signature. “I realized the forgery when they asked this,” al-Zahawie said (Hassan Fattah, Time, Oct. 1).
From October 2, 2003 issue.U.S. Congress Funds 12 New Civil Support TeamsU.S. lawmakers last week provided $88 million to field 12 new National Guard civil support teams (see GSN, March 7). The money is to go for personnel, equipment and operating costs for the teams. Officials have already positioned teams in 32 states, Associated Press reported. The teams include 22 full-time National Guard members who are specially prepared to identify a nuclear, chemical, biological or radiological incident (Associated Press/KRNV, Oct. 1).
From October 2, 2003 issue.U.S. Completes WMD Training for Search and Rescue TeamsThe U.S. Homeland Security Department yesterday announced that it had completed training the nation’s 28 Urban Search and Rescue teams to respond to a biological, chemical or radiological terrorist attack (see GSN, Sept. 25). The teams are intended to conduct rescue operations in and around damaged or destroyed structures, according to the department. Homeland Security officials boosted the teams’ WMD preparedness by “enhancing the equipment and training and providing additional personnel to existing US&R task forces.” The teams are now capable of conducting self-sufficient search and rescue operations for 36 continuous hours after a WMD terrorist attack (Homeland Security Department release, Oct. 1).
From October 2, 2003 issue.Bush Signs Pentagon Appropriations BillU.S. President George W. Bush signed the fiscal 2004 defense appropriations bill into law yesterday, providing the Defense Department with $368 billion, not counting funds contained in an $87 billion supplemental request (see GSN, Sept. 26). Excluding Pentagon spending for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the funding is a roughly 1 percent increase over fiscal 2003 (Associated Press/Newsday, Oct. 1).
From October 1, 2003 issue.Bush Welcomes Investigation Into Identity LeakBy Mike Nartker Justice informed the White House Monday night of its decision to begin an investigation into the leak. The investigation was prompted by a July 14th column by Robert Novak, in which he named Wilson’s wife and her status as a CIA “operative on weapons of mass destruction.” Prior to Novak’s column, Wilson published a column in the New York Times describing a visit he made to Niger last year to investigate claims that Iraq had sought to obtain uranium there — a claim that he determined was unlikely to be true. During a brief press conference yesterday in Chicago, Bush praised the Justice Department’s decision to open an investigation into the leak and expressed confidence in the department’s ability to fully and effectively conduct its investigation. “I welcome the investigation,” Bush said. “I’m actually confident that the Justice Department will do a very good job. There’s a special division of career Justice Department officials who are tasked with doing this kind of work,” he said. Bush also said the White House would cooperate fully with the investigation. “I have told our administration, people in my administration to be fully cooperative. I want to know the truth, and if anybody’s got any information inside our administration or outside our administration, it’d be helpful if they came forward with the information so we can find out whether or not these allegations are true and get on about the business,” he said. Congressional Democrats, however, continued yesterday to call for the appointment of a special counsel to conduct the investigation. “If there was ever a case for the appointment of a special counsel, this is it,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said yesterday during a press conference in Washington. “An independent investigation of this despicable matter must be undertaken immediately. It must be thorough and it must be beyond question in terms of the vigor with which it is pursued,” she said. During a brief and brusque press conference yesterday, Attorney General John Ashcroft rejected the calls for a special counsel. “The prosecutors and agents who are and will be handling this investigation are career professionals with extensive experience in handling matters involving sensitive national security information, and with experience relating to investigations of unauthorized disclosures of such information,” Ashcroft said. Republicans have charged Democrats with using the leak for political gain. “Surprise, surprise, they are calling for a special counsel. My goodness,” the Associated Press today quoted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) as saying. “It must be in their political handbook,” he said. Pelosi yesterday denied that Democrats were playing politics with the issue. “I think those kinds of accusations are pathetic,” she said. For his part, Bush yesterday decried the culture of information leaks in Washington. “Let me just say something about leaks in Washington. There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There’s leaks at the executive branch, there’s leaks in the legislative branch, there’s just too many leaks,” Bush said. “If there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of,” he said.
From October 1, 2003 issue.Blair Defends Decision to Go to War With IraqBritish Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday defended his decision to go to war against Iraq alongside the United States, saying he would make the same decision again today, according to the New York Times (see GSN, Sept. 30). In a speech to the annual Labor Party conference, Blair said he went to war against Iraq because he believed it represented a new threat of a rogue state with the ability to provide terrorists with weapons of mass destruction. Blair also countered critics of the British alliance with the United States, saying the decision to join Washington would help defend the country. “If it is the threat of the 21st century, Britain should be in there helping confront it, not because we are America’s poodle but because dealing with it will make Britain safer,” Blair said. While acknowledging critics of his decision to go to war, Blair also called for understanding of why he did so. “I know many profoundly believe the action we took was wrong,” Blair said. “I do not at all disrespect anyone who disagrees with me. I ask just one thing: attack my decision but at least understand why I took it and why I would take the same decision again,” he said (Warren Hodge, New York Times, Oct. 1).
From September 26, 2003 issue.Coalition Forces Focus Search on Iraqi Chemical WeaponsThree U.S. intelligence officials have said that U.S. forces searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq are now only searching for a small stockpile of chemical weapons, USA Today reported today (see GSN, Sept. 25). The Iraq Survey Group, which is conducting the search, has concluded that prewar Iraq did not possess nuclear weapons and only possessed minimal elements of a nuclear weapons program, according to the officials. They also said Iraq’s alleged stockpiles of biological weapons would be now useless because of the agents’ short shelf life. The unit, headed by CIA envoy David Kay, has also found no evidence that Iraq attempted to smuggle weapons of mass destruction out of the country to avoid detection by U.N. weapons inspectors, the officials said. The unit now believes that Iraq hid small quantities of long-lasting chemical weapons agents at sites that have not yet been discovered, according to USA Today. The amount of unaccounted for Iraqi chemical weapons at the time the war began in March was small enough to fit in a swimming pool, according to a unit analysis. “There is still a huge set of missing chemical weapons that will be found,” one of the three intelligence officials said. “The guys have a lot of digging to do in hot, remote places to find them,” the official said (Diamond/Nichols, USA Today, Sept. 26). White House press secretary Scott McClellan said yesterday that the Bush administration still believes that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. “We continue to believe that he possessed weapons of mass destruction, had a weapons of mass destruction program and Dr. Kay is going to pull together a full picture,” McClellan said (John Lumpkin, Associated Press/Salon.com, Sept. 26). Powell Defends Earlier Iraq WMD Assessment Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday defended a statement he made in early 2001 that Iraq did not have “any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction.” Powell was asked about the Feb. 24, 2001, remark after it was found on a U.S. State Department Web site, according to the Washington Post. He defended the statement by saying that more information on Iraq was later discovered. “What I said was, at that time, three weeks into the administration, when I was trying to get sanctions retained — and we did succeed in getting sanctions retained — I made that observation,” Powell said. “You’ll note that I did not say that he didn’t have weapons of mass destruction. … He was a threat then. The extent of his holdings were yet to be determined. It was early in the administration and, fact of the matter, it was long before 9/11,” he said (Dana Milbank, Washington Post, Sept. 26). U.S. President George W. Bush also defended Powell yesterday, saying the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks had led to a re-evaluation of the threat posed by Hussein. “9/11 changed my calculation. It made it really clear we have to deal with threats before they come on our shore,” Bush said. “You know, for a long period of time, we thought oceans could protect us from danger, and we learned a tough lesson on September the 11th. It’s really important for this nation to continue to chase down and deal with threats before they materialize, and we learned that on September the 11th,” he said (Federal News Service transcript, Sept. 25). New Evidence on Iraqi Drones A U.S. defense official has said that evidence found in Iraq helps to support the prewar claim made by the Bush administration that Iraq was developing unmanned aerial vehicles for use in conducting biological and chemical weapons attacks, according to the Washington Post (see GSN, Sept. 2). The official described a report of an interrogation of a former member of Hussein’s “inner circle” who said Hussein had ordered accelerated production of drones shortly before the war for use in attack missions, the Post reported. Some U.S. analysts have argued, however, that the drones were meant to be used in reconnaissance missions (Bradley Graham, Washington Post, Sept. 26).
From September 26, 2003 issue.U.S. Senate Approves Fiscal 2004 Defense Appropriations BillThe U.S. Senate yesterday voted 95-0 to approve the fiscal 2004 defense appropriations bill, which provides almost $370 billion for the U.S. Defense Department, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, Sept. 25). The $368 billion bill, which was approved by the House of Representatives earlier this week, includes $9.1 billion to build a national missile defense system, an increase of $140 million over this year’s funding. The bill does not address $87 billion requested separately by President George W. Bush to pay for military operation in Afghanistan and Iraq. The bill is a “demonstration of our support, of Congress’ support, of our men and women in uniform,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said (Jim Abrams, Associated Press/Contra Costa Times, Sept. 26).
From September 26, 2003 issue.Northrop Grumman Receives Marine Corps Contract to Build WMD Warning SystemThe U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman announced yesterday that it has received a U.S. Marine Corps contract to build a new WMD warning system (see GSN, Oct. 2, 2002). Under the contract, Northrop Grumman will build a Joint Warning and Reporting Network to provide early warning of WMD attacks, according to a company press release. The five-year contract is worth up to $15 million (Northrop Grumman release, Sept. 25).
From September 25, 2003 issue.Draft U.S. Report Says No WMD Found in IraqConfirming unofficial accounts, a draft report by the CIA’s top WMD hunter in Iraq indicates that U.S. investigators have found no weapons of mass destruction there, U.S. officials said yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 24). The draft interim report was prepared by David Kay, the CIA’s representative on the 1,200-member Iraq Survey Group, responsible for looking for evidence of Iraqi WMD programs. The draft report says that although no WMD stockpiles have been found, the survey group has found evidence of precursors and dual-use equipment that could have been used to produce biological and chemical weapons. The team also interviewed at least one Iraqi security officer who said he had been involved in a biological and chemical weapons program shortly before the United States invaded Iraq in March, the officials said (Jehl/Miller, New York Times, Sept. 24). Kay’s analysis of recovered Iraqi documents is expected to prove that Hussein had the “intent” to resume production of biological and chemical weapons once U.N. sanctions were lifted and weapons inspectors were gone, a senior intelligence official said recently. Then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein “also had scientists working in small groups on nonweapons work who could quickly be shifted over if weapons were needed,” the official said. CIA chief spokesman Bill Harlow said yesterday that Kay, who is now in Washington completing his report, is “still gathering information from the field.” “Don’t expect any firm conclusions. He will not rule in or rule out anything,” Harlow said. Kay is expected to present his report to Congress late next week, the Washington Post reported (Pincus/Priest, Washington Post, Sept. 25). U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday that it would be up to the CIA to determine whether an unclassified version would be released. Kay will turn over his findings to CIA Director George Tenet, Rumsfeld said. The White House had not established a deadline for Kay to do so, according to InsideDefense.com. “It’s a matter of putting the pieces together, and then they do a judgment as to whether he (Kay) wants to wait for a final report, whether he wants to hand in some sort of interim report, whether it should be classified or not — all those are things that he and George (Tenet) are working out,” Rumsfeld said. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice said that a version of the report might not be released at all. “I would not count on reports,” Rice said. “I suppose there may be interim reports. I don’t know when those will be, and I don’t know what the public nature of them will be,” she said (John Liang, InsideDefense.com, Sept. 24).
From September 25, 2003 issue.Congressional Support Growing for Syria Sanctions BillCongressional support is increasing for the Syria Accountability Act, which would require sanctions against Damascus if it does not end the WMD development the Bush administration has recently accused Syria of pursuing, the New York Forward reported this week (see GSN, Sept. 17). “What we have heard about the WMD programs of both Syria and Iran is alarming, and people here are eager to take action,” a House International Relations Committee staff member said. Supporters of the bill, which would require sanctions against Syria if it does not end its suspected WMD efforts, support of terrorism and occupation of Lebanon, said they are close to bringing it up for a vote, according to Forward. While White House officials had previously said the bill would damage U.S. efforts in the Middle East, Undersecretary of State John Bolton told an International Relations subcommittee last week that President George W. Bush and his foreign policy advisers “do not have a position on the bill.” The White House’s apparent decision to not vigorously oppose the bill should make it easier to pass, supporters said. The Bush administration “went from opposing it to saying ‘we have no position,’” said a spokesman for Representative Elliot Engel (D-N.Y.), who co-introduced the bill earlier this year. “We think this change is very significant. We view this as maybe not a green light, but certainly a yellow light,” the spokesman said (Ori Nir, New York Forward, Sept. 26).
From September 25, 2003 issue.$368 Billion Pentagon Budget Moves Toward CompletionThe U.S. House of Representatives yesterday approved a $368 billion U.S. Defense Department appropriations bill for fiscal 2004, including the $9.1 billion the White House had requested for ballistic missile defense (see GSN, July 18). The bill does not include the $87 billion war supplemental requested by President George W. Bush for fiscal 2004, which begins next week (Council for a Livable World, Sept. 25). The bill includes $75 billion for procurement, which represents a $2 billion increase. Procurement funding has increased each year since 1996, the Washington Post reported. The House passed the spending bill 407-15, after seven minutes of debate, and the Senate is expected to take up the budget today, according to the Post. Some lawmakers warned that continuing operations would make it difficult to provide sufficient funds for Pentagon modernization projects. “We need to spend $15 billion to $16 billion just to refurbish equipment in Iraq,” said Representative John Murtha (D-Pa.). A major procurement budget increase in the future, he said, “is not going to happen” (Dan Morgan, Washington Post, Sept. 25).
From September 25, 2003 issue.Greek Security Exercise Tests Preparation for 2004 OlympicsGreek authorities this week are holding a two-day security exercise that includes biological and chemical weapons scenarios in preparation for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Xinhua News Agency reported today (see GSN, May 20, 2002). A number of Greek and foreign security experts are set to take part in the map exercise, being held at the Athens 2004 Olympic Organizing Committee’s headquarters (Xinhua News Agency, Sept. 25).
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