CIA head defends WMD intelligence claims
The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has rebuffed allegations his organisation was unwaveringly certain Iraq posed an “imminent” threat before the outbreak of war last year.
Defending pre-war intelligence and the work of the agencies, George Tenet said opinion was split among experts on the severity of Iraq’s chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons threat. He added that the CIA had conveyed this message to the White House.
Speaking at George Washington University on Thursday, Mr Tenet said: “In the intelligence business you are almost never completely wrong or completely right. That applies in full to the questions of Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction.
“When the facts of Iraq are all in, we will neither be completely right or completely wrong.”
The threat from Saddam Hussein’s assumed weapons of mass destruction was part of the basis on which the US and her allies mounted a military offensive against the dictator. To date no WMD have been found.
Meanwhile, US President George W Bush is set to announce an inquiry to review the intelligence prior to the outbreak of the Iraq war.
Mr Bush is reported to have named Republican Senator John McCain as a member of the commission.
Mr Bush’s intervention comes after David Kay, ex-head of the Iraq Survey Group, said the search for WMD could prove futile.
