Node Of Evil - Fair And Balanced Reporting

Monday, April 28, 2003

 
Intelligence Update

Here is one theory on where the faked documents which purportedly proved that Iraq sought to buy fissile materials from Niger may have come from -- France. The author dismisses one theory put forward by Seymour Hersh that the documents originated with British intelligence, arguing that France passed them on to purposely weaken the case for war.

The Independent reports that:

'A high-level UK source said last night that intelligence agencies on both sides of the Atlantic were furious that briefings they gave political leaders were distorted in the rush to war with Iraq. "They ignored intelligence assessments which said Iraq was not a threat," the source said. Quoting an editorial in a Middle East newspaper which said, "Washington has to prove its case. If it does not, the world will for ever believe that it paved the road to war with lies", he added: "You can draw your own conclusions."'

. . .

'Glen Rangwala, the Cambridge University analyst who first pointed out Downing Street's plagiarism, said ministers had claimed before the war to have information which could not be disclosed because agents in Iraq would be endangered. "That doesn't apply any more, but they haven't come up with the evidence," he said. "They lack credibility."'

'Mr Rangwala said much of the information on WMDs had come from Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress (INC), which received Pentagon money for intelligence-gathering. "The INC saw the demand, and provided what was needed," he said. "The implication is that they polluted the whole US intelligence effort."'









Andrew 9:31 AM : |

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