AFP: Powell was Under Pressure to Use Shaky Intelligence on Iraq

[BlueEyedSon]

He used to be one of the good guys....

Agence France Presse

Friday 30 May 2003

US News and World Report magazine said the first draft of the speech was prepared for Powell by Vice President Richard Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, in late January.

According to the report, the draft contained such questionable material that Powell lost his temper, throwing several pages in the air and declaring, "I'm not reading this. This is bullshit."

Cheney's aides wanted Powell to include in his presentation information that Iraq has purchased computer software that would allow it to plan an attack on the United States, an allegation that was not supported by the CIA, US News reported.

The White House also pressed Powell to include charges that the suspected leader of the September 11 hijackers, Mohammed Atta, had met in Prague with an Iraqi intelligence officer prior to the attacks, despite a refusal by US and European intelligence agencies to confirm the meeting, the magazine said.

The pressure forced Powell to appoint his own review team that met several times with Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to prepare the speech, in which the secretary of state accused Iraq of hiding tonnes of biological and chemical weapons.

US News also said that the Defense Intelligence Agency had issued a classified assessment of Iraq's chemical weapons program last September, arguing that "there is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons."

However, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Congress shortly after that that the Iraqi "regime has amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of chemical weapons, including VX, sarin, cyclosarin, and mustard gas," according to the report.


(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.)

Link: http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/060403B.shtml

[lcordero]

1. PULEEZE

I for not giving anybody a break on this.

[rwork]

2. How else

do you explain his sudden over night change? From calling for more inspections, to suddenly turning into a hawk.

[UTUSN]

3. POWELL, a Profile in Courage---------NOT! n/t

[BlueEyedSon]

4. Read his comments, whether you like him now or not

read this part. I think it supports the claim that the intel was hyped a bit.....

According to the report, the draft contained such questionable material that Powell lost his temper, throwing several pages in the air and declaring, "I'm not reading this. This is bullshit."

I repeat:

"Bullshit"

[Jacobin]

5. And KNOWING it was bullshit, he went before the U.N.

and presented things that were still bullshit and he knew it.

[Loonman]

6. Powell, what a blooming idiot

Now he thinks we didn't watch his "show and tell" presentation.


All the Republican scumbags are running for cover.


Meanwhile, instead of taking advantage of the situation, Tom Daschle is "deeply saddened".

[Bandit]

7. Put Powell in front of a Grand Jury and we will see if the lies flow

as easily as they have been. In fact put all these crooks in front of a Grand Jury and I'm sure some cracks will develop.