CIA told Condi and her deputy Hadley that Iraq Niger evidence was weak

[papau]

http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=45169

ADMINISTRATION IGNORED IRAQ/AL-QAEDA INTELLIGENCE

The Senate Intelligence Committee released a report on Friday that does its best to whitewash the Administration's role in hyping intelligence by pinning the blame on the CIA.<1> The report distorts the truth by failing to meaningfully investigate "the ways intelligence was used, misused, misinterpreted or ignored by Administration policymakers... in making the case to the American people that war with Iraq was necessary."<2> Those issues, conveniently, will be addressed in a separate report scheduled to be
released sometime after the November elections.

Despite its inadequacies, the Intelligence Committee's report illustrates how - in the few cases the intelligence community did get it right - top Administration officials ignored them anyway.

For example, the CIA reported to the Administration that Iraq and al-Qaeda did not have "an established formal relationship."<3> In fact, the Iraqi government actively sought "to prevent Iraq youth from joining Al Qaeda." Yet, Vice President Dick Cheney continues to tell the American people that Saddam Hussein had "an established relationship with al Qaeda."<4>

Also, according to the Intelligence Committee report, George Tenet directly contacted National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and her deputy Stephen Hadley in October 2002 to tell them the President should not say that Iraq had sought uranium from Africa because "the evidence was weak." In a fax sent to the White House, the CIA explained that "this is one of the two issues where we differed with the British." Nevertheless, just two months later, the President publicly declared "he British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from
Africa."<5>

Sources:

1. "Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence
Assessments on Iraq," Senate Intelligence Committee, 7/07/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=45170.
2. "Holes in America's Defense," Washington Post, 7/09/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=45171.
3. "C.I.A. Warned White House That Links Between Iraq and Qaeda Were
'Murky'," New York Times, 7/10/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=45172.
4. "Interview With Dick Cheney," Fox News, 6/28/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=45173.
5. 2003 State of the Union, WhiteHouse.gov, 1/28/03,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=45174.

[displacedtexan]

1. That yellow cake crap is STILL BEING TOUTED by BushCo!

I am sick to death of this!

Even the White House retracted those 16 words.

And Secretary of State Colin Powell did not repeat the claim in his Feb. 5 testimony to the Security Council.

Rice acknowledged that the State Department's intelligence division considered the uranium-purchasing allegations dubious, and this was noted in a footnote in an intelligence assessment given to Mr. Bush.

The White House withdrew the uranium claim on Monday. The evidence in question referred to a supposed deal between Iraq and Niger, though neither the president nor the British identified that country in public.

The president's statement was incorrect because it was based on forged documents, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Monday.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/11/iraq/main562943.shtml

What does it take?