From The Washington Post, 7/13/03:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?nav=hptop_tb

CIA Got Uranium Reference Cut in Oct.

Why Bush Cited It In Jan. Is Unclear

By Walter Pincus and Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writers

Sunday, July 13, 2003; Page A01


CIA Director George J. Tenet successfully intervened with White House
officials to have a reference to Iraq seeking uranium from Niger
removed from a presidential speech last October, three months before a
less specific reference to the same intelligence appeared in the State
of the Union address, according to senior administration officials.

Tenet argued personally to White House officials, including deputy
national security adviser Stephen Hadley, that the allegation should
not be used because it came from only a single source, according to
one senior official.

Another senior official with knowledge of the intelligence said the
CIA had doubts about the accuracy of the documents underlying the
allegation, which months later turned out to be forged.

The new disclosure suggests how eager the White House was in January
to make Iraq's nuclear program a part of its case against Saddam
Hussein even in the face of earlier objections by its own CIA
director.

It also appears to raise questions about the administration's
explanation of how the faulty allegations were included in the State
of the Union speech.

It is unclear why Tenet failed to intervene in January to prevent the
questionable intelligence from appearing in the president's address to
Congress when Tenet had intervened three months earlier in a much less
symbolic speech.

That failure may underlie his action Friday in taking responsibility
for not stepping in again to question the reference.

"I am responsible for the approval process in my agency," he said in
Friday's statement.

As Bush left Africa yesterday to return to Washington from a five-day
trip overshadowed by the intelligence blunder, he was asked whether he
considered the matter over.

"I do," he replied. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told
reporters yesterday that "the president has moved on. And I think,
frankly, much of the country has moved on, as well."

But it is clear from the new disclosure about Tenet's intervention
last October that the controversy continues to boil, and as new facts
emerge a different picture is being presented than the administration
has given to date.

Details about the alleged attempt by Iraq to buy as much as 500 tons
of uranium oxide were contained in a national intelligence estimate
(NIE) that was concluded in late September 2002.

It was that same reference that the White House wanted to use in
Bush's Oct. 7 speech that Tenet blocked, the sources said.

That same intelligence report was the basis for the 16-word sentence
about Iraq attempting to buy uranium in Africa that was contained in
the January State of the Union address that has drawn recent
attention.

Administration sources said White House officials, particularly those
in the office of Vice President Cheney, insisted on including
Hussein's quest for a nuclear weapon as a prominent part of their
public case for war in Iraq.

Cheney had made the potential threat of Hussein having a nuclear
weapon a central theme of his August 2002 speeches that began the
public buildup toward war with Baghdad.

In the Oct. 7 Cincinnati speech, the president for the first time
outlined in detail the threat Hussein posed to the United States on
the eve of a congressional vote authorizing war.

Bush talked in part about "evidence" indicating that Iraq was
reconstituting its nuclear weapons program.

The president listed Hussein's "numerous meetings with Iraqi nuclear
scientists," satellite photographs showing former nuclear facilities
were being rebuilt, and Iraq's attempts to purchase high-strength
aluminum tubes for use in enriching uranium for nuclear weapons.

There was, however, no mention of Niger or even attempts to purchase
uranium from other African countries, which was contained in the NIE
and also included in a British intelligence dossier that had been
published a month earlier.

By January, when conversations took place with CIA personnel over what
could be in the president's State of the Union speech, White House
officials again sought to use the Niger reference since it still was
in the NIE.

"We followed the NIE and hoped there was more intelligence to support
it," a senior administration official said yesterday.

When told there was nothing new, White House officials backed off, and
as a result "seeking uranium from Niger was never in drafts," he said.

Tenet raised no personal objection to the ultimate inclusion of the
sentence, attributed to Britain, about Iraqi attempts to buy uranium
in Africa.

His statement on Friday said he should have.

"These 16 words should never have been included in the text written
for the president," the CIA director said.

Bush said in Abuja, Nigeria, yesterday that he continues to have faith
in Tenet.

"I do, absolutely," he said.

"I've got confidence in George Tenet; I've got confidence in the men
and women who work at the CIA."

There is still much that remains unclear about who specifically wanted
the information inserted in the State of the Union speech, or why
repeated concerns about the allegations were ignored.

"The information was available within the system that should have
caught this kind of big mistake," a former Bush administration
official said.

"The question is how the management of the system, and the process
that supported it, allowed this kind of misinformation to be used and
embarrass the president."

Senior Bush aides said they do not believe they have a communication
problem within the White House that prevented them from acting on any
of the misgivings about the information that were being expressed at
lower levels of the government.

"I'm sure there will have to be some retracing of steps, and that's
what's happening," White House communications director Dan Bartlett
said.

"The mechanical process, we think is fine. Will more people now give
more, tighter scrutiny going forward? Of course."

A senior administration official said Bush's chief speechwriter,
Michael J. Gerson, does not remember who wrote the line that has wound
up causing the White House so much grief.

Officials said three speechwriters were at the core of the State of
the Union team, and that they worked from evidence against Iraq
provided by the National Security Council.

NSC officials dealt with the CIA both in gathering material for the
speech and later in vetting the drafts.

Officials involved in preparing the speech said there was much more
internal debate over the next line of the speech, when Bush said in
reference to Hussein, "Our intelligence sources tell us that he has
attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for
nuclear weapons production."

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, in his Feb. 5 presentation to the
United Nations, noted a disagreement about Iraq's intentions for the
tubes, which can be used in centrifuges to enrich uranium.

The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency had raised those
questions two weeks before the State of the Union address, saying
Hussein claimed nonnuclear intentions for the tubes.

In March, the IAEA said it found Hussein's claim credible, and could
all but rule out the use of the tubes in a nuclear program.

__________________________________________________ _______

Expect the Bush administration to start tearing itself apart from
within.

Harry