Bush Defends Use of Prewar Intel on Iraq

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>

> A statement made in reliance of false information may be just

> a misstatement; a statement using information

> known to be false become a lie. Apparently

> Bush does not know the difference.

>

> Bush Defends Use of Prewar Intel on Iraq

> July 9 2003

> By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer

>

> PRETORIA, South Africa - President Bush

>

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> sites) on Wednesday defended his use of prewar intelligence on Iraq

>

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> -

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> sites), saying he is " absolutely confident " in his actions despite the

> discovery that one claim he made about Saddam Hussein

>

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> sites)'s weapons pursuits was based on false information.

>

> Democrats have argued that the White House's acknowledgment that Bush

> misspoke earlier this year when he said Saddam tried to buy uranium in

> Africa justifies a broad review of how the administration used prewar

> intelligence on Iraq.

>

> Bush, at a news conference here with South African President Thabo Mbeki

> during a five-nation African tour, took on his critics.

>

> " There's no doubt in my mind that when it's all said and done the facts

> will show the world the truth, " he said. " There's going to be, you know, a

> lot of attempts to try to rewrite history, and I can understand that. But

> I'm absolutely confident in the decision I made. "

>

> Bush did not directly address the misstatement itself, made during his

> State of the Union address. Instead, he defended his decision to go to war

> based on a larger body of information.

>

> " There is no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the

world

> peace, " the president said. " And there's no doubt in my mind that the

> United States ... did the right thing in removing him from power. "

>

> Back home, the uranium claim was raising concerns among Democrats, who

said

> more was needed despite several investigations now under way in Congress.

>

> " This is a very important admission, " Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle

> of South Dakota said Tuesday. " It's a recognition that we were provided

> faulty information. And I think it's all the more reason why a full

> investigation of all of the facts surrounding this situation be

undertaken. "

>

> Sen. Carl Levin

>

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<http://rd./DailyNews/politics/bio/*http://.capwiz.com/y/bio/?

id=310>bio,

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> record) of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee,

> said: " The reported White House statements only reinforce the importance

of

> an inquiry into why the information about the bogus uranium sales didn't

> reach the policy-makers during 2002 and why, as late as the president's

> State of the Union address in January 2003, our policy-makers were still

> using information which the intelligence community knew was almost

> certainly false. "

>

> The Bush administration used purported Iraqi weapons of mass destruction

as

> a major justification for the war, and the failure to find such weapons so

> far has generated intense criticism from some Democrats.

>

> White House spokesman Ari Fleischer

>

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> sites) set off a furor Monday when, under questioning by reporters, he

> acknowledged that Bush was incorrect in his State of the Union speech when

> he said " the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently

> sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. "

>

> Wednesday, Fleischer said that " this type of information should not have

> risen to the level of a presidential speech. "

>

> But, he added, " this is a classic issue of hindsight is 20-20. "

>

> " There's a bigger picture here, " Fleischer told reporters traveling with

> Bush to South Africa. He repeated administration assertions that Saddam

> Hussein was trying to reconstitute a weapons of mass destruction program.

>

> Other White House officials elaborated on Fleischer's remarks Tuesday,

> saying the United States had additional evidence of Iraq's nuclear

intentions.

>

> Michael Anton, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said that

> when Bush made the speech, there was other intelligence indicating Iraq

had

> tried to acquire uranium from several countries in Africa. This other

> information, however, was not detailed or specific enough to prove such a

> contention, he said.

>

> The claim rested significantly on a letter or letters between officials in

> Iraq and Niger that were obtained by European intelligence agencies. The

> communications are now accepted as forged.

>

>

>

> Anton acknowledged such on Tuesday, but also said the documents were not

> the sole basis for the Iraq-Africa statement in Bush's speech.

>

> " Because of this lack of specificity, this reporting alone did not rise to

> the level of inclusion in a presidential speech, " Anton said. " That said,

> the issue of Iraq's attempts to acquire uranium from abroad was not an

> element underpinning the judgment reached by most intelligence agencies

> that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. "

>

> On Sunday, Joseph Wilson, an envoy sent to Africa to investigate

> allegations about Iraq's nuclear weapons program, said the Bush

> administration manipulated his findings, possibly to strengthen the

> rationale for war.

>

> Wilson insisted in an NBC-TV interview that his doubts about the purported

> Iraq-Niger connection reached the highest levels of government, including

> Vice President Dick Cheney

>

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> sites)'s office. In fact, he said, Cheney's office inquired about the

> purported Niger-Iraq link.

>

> Fleischer said Monday that Cheney did not request information about

> Wilson's mission to Niger, was not informed of his mission and was not

> aware of it until press reports accounted for it.

>

> Rep. Henry Waxman

>

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>

<http://rd./DailyNews/politics/bio/*http://.capwiz.com/y/bio/?

id=651>bio,

>

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> record) of California, the top Democrat on the House Government Reform

> Committee

>

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> sites), wrote to Bush on Tuesday outlining a letter he received from the

> International Atomic Energy Agency regarding the forged Niger documents.

>

> The letter " raises new questions about why the administration withheld the

> evidence from the IAEA for over six crucial weeks in December and January

> and even then failed to share the conclusions of U.S. intelligence

> officials that the evidence was bogus. "

>

> Democrats seeking their party's presidential nomination, including Sens.

> Bob Graham of Florida and John Kerry of Massachusetts and Reps. Richard

> Gephardt of Missouri and Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, also called for further

> investigation.

>

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