[list_indonesia] [ppiindia] WMD Verdict: 'Dead wrong'
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 02:24:16 +0200
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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=3D625307
WMD Verdict: 'Dead wrong'
The damning verdict of America's official report into the reasons for going=
to war in Iraq
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
01 April 2005=20
A bipartisan US commission has delivered adevastating critique of the intel=
ligence assessment of Iraq's pre-war weapons of mass destruction. It also i=
mplied that the country's spy agencies know "disturbingly little" about Ira=
n and North Korea.
The intelligence community was "dead wrong" in "almost all of its judgement=
s" about Saddam Hussein's presumed chemical, biological and nuclear weapons=
programmes, declared the panel, which was set up by President George Bush =
in February last year.
It bleakly warned that the United States "simply cannot afford failures of =
this magnitude" again. And, as he formally took delivery of the 400-page re=
port at the White House, Mr Bush concurred, saying that America's intellige=
nce community - currently scattered across 15 separate agencies - needed "f=
undamental change". He promised that "concrete actions" would be taken soon=
.
Like Lord Butler's report in Britain, the nine-member commission, drawn fro=
m Republicans and Democrats, exonerates the administration of charges that =
it directly asked intelligence analysts to change their position or applied=
"undue influence" upon them. "We found absolutely no instance [of that]", =
the panel concludes.
But the rest of the document was almost uniformly damning, listing dozens o=
f failings by a host of agencies - first and foremost the CIA, but also inc=
luding the Defence Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, and the top-secret =
National Security Agency which is responsible for electronic eavesdropping =
around the world.
Most alarming, however, is what the report conveyed about current US knowle=
dge of the suspected nuclear programmes of Iran and North Korea, which, alo=
ng with Saddam's Iraq, were described as the "axis of evil" by Mr Bush and =
which are under pressure from Washington to give up their nuclear ambitions=
.
"Across the board," the report said, "the intelligence community knows dist=
urbingly little about the nuclear programmes of many of the world's most da=
ngerous actors." In some cases, said the report, "it knows less now than it=
did five or 10 years ago". However, the sections of the report specificall=
y dealing with North Korea and Iran are classified and are not being made p=
ublic.
This observation will do nothing to reassure the rest of the world that the=
weaknesses that led to the Iraq d=E9b=E2cle will not be repeated. Such pub=
lic doubts from so eminent a source can only increase scepticism over asser=
tions from Washington about what is going on in Iran and North Korea.
The commission, which was headed by a retired Republican judge, Laurence Si=
lberman, and a former Democratic Senator, Charles Robb, set out 74 specific=
recommendations, which would change many of the ways that the CIA has oper=
ated since it was created in 1947.
Most importantly, it advocated broader powers for John Negroponte, the form=
er US ambassador to the United Nations and currently Washington's envoy in =
Baghdad, who is Mr Bush's nominee to be the first director of national inte=
lligence, with authority over the entire US espionage apparatus.
The suggested changes included bringing the FBI's counterintelligence and c=
ounterterrorism operations into a single office directly under the aegis of=
the DNI. It also called for a new and lean National Counter-Proliferation =
Centre, which would constantly monitor countries suspected of seeking nucle=
ar and other unconventional weapons.
Among other improvements, the report recommended that confused lines of aut=
hority over information sharing created by last year's Intelligence Reform =
Act, setting up the DNI, should be resolved.
It wants Mr Negroponte to be given control of the country's $35bn (=A318.5b=
n) intelligence budget, to avoid turf battles between the DNI and the Penta=
gon in particular.
There should be a single individual under the DNI chief who is in charge of=
"information sharing" and "information security". This would help "break d=
own cultural and policy barriers," the report says. It also urges creation =
of a Human Intelligence Directorate within the CIA, to improve the gatherin=
g of human intelligence - an area where the US has been weak in the cases o=
f Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
The CIA and other agencies have said that internal reforms are already unde=
r way. But the commission is unconvinced: "The flaws we found in the intell=
igence community's Iraq performance are still all too common." It urged Mr =
Negroponte to "hold accountable" the organisations that contributed to the =
Iraq fiasco.
The report also dwelled at length on the need for greater attention to conf=
licting views among intelligence analysts, instead of the system which prev=
ailed in the Iraq d=E9b=E2cle, whereby inconvenient or nuanced pieces of in=
formation were eliminated from an assessment as it made its way up the bure=
aucratic ladder.
Republicans greeted the report last night as the last word on a controversy=
which has been the biggest embarrassment of the Bush presidency thus far. =
But Democrats insisted that the White House should not escape unscathed. Ha=
rry Reid, the Senate minority leader, said: "Senior policymakers should be =
held accountable for their actions as well."
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