WH knew Hussein had no WMD (Iraqi chief of intelligence told British Intell) - The Way of the World

[JohnWxy]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/05/10809/


Published on Tuesday, August 5, 2008 by MSNBC
Author Claims White House Knew Iraq Had No WMD


by Bob Considine


WASHINGTON - President Bush committed an impeachable offense by
ordering the CIA to to manufacture a false pretense for the Iraq war
in the form of a backdated, handwritten document linking Saddam
Hussein and al-Qaeda, an explosive new book claims.


The charge is made in “The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope
in an Age of Extremism” by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron
Suskind, released today.


Suskind says he spoke on the record with U.S. intelligence officials
who stated that Bush was informed unequivocally in January 2003 that
Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction. Nonetheless, his book
relates, Bush decided to invade Iraq three months later - with the
forged letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam bolstering
the U.S. rationale to go into war.


“It was a dark day for the CIA,” Suskind told TODAY co-host Meredith
Vieira on Tuesday. “It was the kind of thing where said,
‘Look, this is not our charge. We’re not here to carry forth a
political mandate - which is clearly what this was - to solve a
political problem in America.’ And it was a cause of great grievance
inside of the agency.”