Bush Misled US Into Iraq War--An Official Finding ?
06/26/2003 @ 4:38pm
http://www.thenation.com/capitalgame...?bid=3&pid=783

George W. Bush misled the nation into war.

Who says?

Representative Jane Harman, the ranking Democrat on the House
intelligence committee.

On the basis of what?

On the basis of information preliminarily reviewed by the intelligence
committee as part of its ongoing investigation into the prewar
intelligence on Iraq.

On June 25, during the House debate on the intelligence authorization
bill, Harman delivered an informal progress report on her committee's
inquiry. Her remarks received, as far as I can tell, little media
attention. But they are dramatic in that these comments are the first
quasi-findings from an official outlet confirming that Bush deployed
dishonest rhetoric in guiding the United States to invasion and
occupation in Iraq. This is not an op-ed judgment; this is an
evaluation from a member of the intelligence committee who claims to
be basing her statements on the investigative work of the committee.
Here's what she says:

* On Bush's prewar assertions about Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction: "When discussing Iraq's WMD, administration officials
rarely included the caveats and qualifiers attached to the
intelligence committee's judgments….For many Americans, the
administration's certainty gave the impression that there was even
stronger intelligence about Iraq's possession of and intention to use
WMD."

* On the evidence upon which the WMD assertions were based: "The
committee is now investigating whether the intelligence case on Iraq's
WMD was based on circumstantial evidence rather than hard facts and
whether the intelligence community made clear to the policy-makers and
Congress that most of its analytic judgments were based on things like
aerial photographs and Iraqi defector interviews, not hard facts."

* On the supposed Hussein-al Qaeda connection: "[T]he investigation
suggests that the intelligence linking al Qaeda to Iraq, a prominent
theme in the administration's statements prior to the war, [was]
contrary to what was claimed by the administration."

She is not beating around the bush. She asserts that the President
overstated the WMD case, ignoring nuances and uncertainties in the
intelligence reporting, and created a false impression about what was
known about the threat posed by Iraq. She maintains that Bush rashly
claimed Hussein was in cahoots with the evildoers of 9/11, when
intelligence indicated otherwise. This is damning stuff. Never mind
all the recent claptrap from administration apologists about the Iraq
war having been fought for the good of the repressed Iraqis. The
primary rationale for the war Bush offered in public was based on two
notions: Iraq possessed ready-to-go WMDs and Saddam Hussein was in
league with al Qaeda and could slip these awful weapons to Osama bin
Laden at any moment. (Last fall, Bush exclaimed--with no caveats or
qualifiers--that Hussein was "dealing" with al Qaeda.) The danger,
Bush and his crew argued repeatedly, was imminent and real--so
clear-and-present that the United States could not afford to wait any
longer or take a chance on enhanced and more intrusive inspections.

Now Harman says Bush had no right to declare, as he did on March 17,
that "intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no
doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of
the most lethal weapons ever devised," or to say Hussein was a bin
Laden ally. Harman, a California moderate who is no hothead and who
voted for the Iraq war, is essentially branding Bush a liar. If her
remarks accurately reflect the committee's work, it means the
administration will be confronted with evidence it misrepresented
intelligence in its attempt to whip up support for the war. And it may
well be confronted in public. Harman notes that Representative Porter
Goss, the Republican chairman of the committee, has promised to hold
public hearings, perhaps in July, and to produce an unclassified
report as soon as possible. (Soon after Harman made her remarks on the
floor, Goss led a successful effort to defeat an amendment offered by
Representative Dennis Kucinich, a Democratic presidential candidate,
that would have required the inspector general of the CIA to
investigate the allegation that Vice President Dick Cheney pressured
the agency to produce reports supporting the administration's policy
on Iraq.)

"It is already clear that there were flaws in US intelligence," Harman
says. "Iraq's WMD was not located where the intelligence community
thought it might be. Chemical weapons were not used in the war despite
the intelligence community's judgment that their use was likely. I
urge this administration not to contemplate military action,
especially preemptive action, in Iran, North Korea or Syria until
these issues are cleared up." She also suggests that an independent
commission might be needed to examine the MIA WMD controversy.

Harman's statement was a sneak preview. If she is not blowing smoke,
Bush's prewar deceptions may end up more thoroughly substantiated than
was his case for war.

* *

Thanks to Secrecy News for bringing Harman's comments to my attention.
To see the whole debate on the intelligence bill--which includes
Harman's statement--click here.
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_cr/h062503.html