U.S. pulls team seeking arms in Iraq
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| Thu, 01-08-2004 - 11:38am |
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/155714_iraqarms08.html
U.S. pulls team seeking arms in Iraq
Thursday, January 8, 2004
THE NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has quietly withdrawn from Iraq a 400-member military team whose job was to scour the country for military equipment.
The step was described by some military officials as a sign that the administration might have lowered its sights and no longer expected to uncover the caches of chemical and biological weapons that the White House cited as a principal reason for going to war in March.
A separate military team that specializes in disposing of chemical and biological weapons remains part of the 1,400-member Iraq Survey Group, which has been searching Iraq for more that seven months at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. But that team is "still waiting for something to dispose of," said a survey group member.
A report yesterday in The Washington Post cited a previously undisclosed document that suggested Iraq might have destroyed its biological weapons as early as 1991.
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More.........
Report says Iraq didn't have WMD.
Author: Political pressure influenced intelligence before war.
>"Iraq's "programs were crippled by years of inspections and U.S. military strikes," he said, "and the sanctions that prevented them from getting anything going at all."
Cirincione said one reason for the apparent lack of progress in the Iraqi weapons programs was because Iraqi scientists were "telling Saddam that they were further along than they actually were."
"Apparently that was picked up by some of the Iraqi defectors who came to the U.S. telling stories of elaborate advanced weapons programs," he said.
"So the defectors were fooled, Saddam was fooled, but as it turns out Saddam himself had made the decision -- as far as we can tell -- in the mid-'90s to shut down these programs.""<
Quote from...........
from http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/08/international/middleeast/08WEAP.html
"David Kay, the head of the survey group, made it known last month that he might leave his post. Government officials said Wednesday that he had not reached a decision but that both he and his top deputy, Maj. Gen. Keith Dayton of the Defense Intelligence Agency, were in Washington, in part to discuss what direction the hunt should take."
"Ms. Harman said in a telephone interview that she expected that Dr. Kay, appointed last June 11 as a special adviser to George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, was probably stepping down, a development that she said would be "very disappointing."
"I have to believe that if they were about to pounce on a large stockpile of chemical or biological weapons, he would be there for the announcement," Ms. Harman said."
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However, it should be pointed out that the 400 member team that's leaving were looking specifically for rocket launchers and the delivery systems which could carry WMD, not the WMD itself. They didn't find any, so they're going home.
"A sparate military team that specializes in disposing of chemical and biological weapons remains part of the 1,400-member Iraq Survey Group, which has been searching Iraq for more than seven months at a cost of hundereds of millions of dollars. But that team is "still waiting for something to dispose of," said a survey group member."
'This game is still unfolding'
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/01/08/sprj.nirq.wmd.report/index.html
Renee
He also says.................
>"Powell said he had not read the report but read news reports about it."<
I'm sure he was pressured to make the case for attacking Iraq by the Bush admin.
No concrete evidence! Think the possibilty of some connection! These are the FACTS for WAR????
>"The secretary of state also said that his presentation to the United Nations last year made it clear that "we had seen some links and connections" between Iraq and terror groups "over time."
"I have not seen smoking gun concrete evidence about the connection, but I think the possibility of some connections did exist and was prudent to consider them at the time that we did." "<
>""We recommend the formation of a senior blue ribbon commission to examine this in an independent, nonpartisan way and make recommendations for how to insulate intelligence assessors from political pressures," Cirincione said.
"We don't know what happened in the offices of the administration, but there's a lot of evidence that points to" intelligence assessors being pressured by their bosses."<
Good Idea.
cl-Libraone
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/09/politics/09POWE.html?pagewanted=all
cl-Libraone