Post by unlawflcombatnt on Feb 9, 2007 18:56:52 GMT -6
A Businessweek article today describes the manipulation of of pre-war Iraq intelligence by Pentagon officials, which provided the false information requested by the Bush administration to start the Iraq war. The issue is summed up in the article, 'Accusations of "Twisted Intelligence"'
"Defense Dept. Inspector General Tom Gimble told lawmakers that Pentagon officials manipulated data before the invasion of Iraq
by Dawn Kopecki
Top Pentagon officials, authorized by then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, "inappropriately" misled the White House in asserting strong prewar ties between Iraq and al Qaeda, which turned out not to be true, and intentionally withheld data provided by outside intelligence agencies that challenged the Pentagon's conclusions, Acting Defense Dept. Inspector General Tom Gimble told lawmakers Feb. 9....
Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich) said..."The bottom line is that intelligence relating to the Iraq–al Qaeda relationship was manipulated by high-ranking officials in the Department of Defense to support the administration's decision to invade Iraq when the intelligence assessments of the professional analysts of the intelligence community did not provide the desired compelling case,"....
Shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Defense Dept. expanded the duties of its policy office, then run by former Under Secretary Douglas Feith, to find any connections between al Qaeda and the Iraqi and other governments and to develop its own intelligence assessments—separate from the Central Intelligence Agency and other agencies. Feith's shop under then-Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz disseminated "alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al Qaeda relationship, which included conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the intelligence community and these were presented to senior decision-makers," Gimble said.
Levin said, "senior Administration officials used the twisted intelligence produced by the Feith office in making the case for the Iraq war." "
"Defense Dept. Inspector General Tom Gimble told lawmakers that Pentagon officials manipulated data before the invasion of Iraq
by Dawn Kopecki
Top Pentagon officials, authorized by then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, "inappropriately" misled the White House in asserting strong prewar ties between Iraq and al Qaeda, which turned out not to be true, and intentionally withheld data provided by outside intelligence agencies that challenged the Pentagon's conclusions, Acting Defense Dept. Inspector General Tom Gimble told lawmakers Feb. 9....
Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich) said..."The bottom line is that intelligence relating to the Iraq–al Qaeda relationship was manipulated by high-ranking officials in the Department of Defense to support the administration's decision to invade Iraq when the intelligence assessments of the professional analysts of the intelligence community did not provide the desired compelling case,"....
Shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Defense Dept. expanded the duties of its policy office, then run by former Under Secretary Douglas Feith, to find any connections between al Qaeda and the Iraqi and other governments and to develop its own intelligence assessments—separate from the Central Intelligence Agency and other agencies. Feith's shop under then-Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz disseminated "alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al Qaeda relationship, which included conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the intelligence community and these were presented to senior decision-makers," Gimble said.
Levin said, "senior Administration officials used the twisted intelligence produced by the Feith office in making the case for the Iraq war." "