Progress Report: They Knew

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Center for American Progress - Progress Report

 

 

by David Sirota, Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and

Jonathan Baskin

 

 

August 5, 2004

INTELLIGENCE They Knew

CONTRACTORS The Reconstruction Racket

IRAQ Chaos Continues

UNDER THE RADAR

 

INTELLIGENCE

They Knew

 

Earlier this week, President Bush made remarks

implying he had no idea Iraq might not have nuclear

weapons or definitive ties to al Qaeda. But as a new

article in In These Times by the Progress Report's own

David Sirota and Christy Harvey demonstrates, the Bush

administration knew before the war that it was

mis-stating the Iraqi threat.#160; The article

chronologically juxtaposes pre-war intelligence

documents with the administration's pre-war statements

to show that on each major charge, the Bush team

ignored warnings that its case for war was weak, and

dispels the argument that the intelligence community

is to blame for the dishonesty about weapons of mass

destruction and a purported Iraq-al Qaeda connection.

See the full article, and see an American Progress

backgrounder which explores some more of the details.

 

THEY KNEW THERE WAS NO SERIOUS NUCLEAR THREAT: Before

President Bush gave his first major speech on Iraq's

supposed nuclear arsenal in October, the White House

had various pieces of intelligence warning that the

claims were specious. For instance, a 1997 report by

the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

stated there was no indication Iraq ever achieved

nuclear capability. In February 2001, the CIA

delivered a report to the White House that said: " We

do not have any direct evidence that Iraq has used the

period since Desert Fox to reconstitute its weapons of

mass destruction programs. " The report was so

definitive that Secretary of State Colin Powell said

in a subsequent press conference that Saddam Hussein

" has not developed any significant capability with

respect to weapons of mass destruction. " In the same

month Bush gave his speech, his own State Department

told the White House that evidence did not " add up to

a compelling case. " Nonetheless, in March of 2003,

Vice President Cheney ignored another IAEA warning

that the nuclear case was weak and said Iraq " has

reconstituted nuclear weapons. " Even after the

invasion, when no nuclear material was found, National

Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice claimed the nuclear

assertions were " absolutely supportable, " while White

House spokesman Scott McClellan insisted: " There's a

lot of evidence showing that Iraq was reconstituting

its nuclear weapons program. "

 

THEY KNEW THERE WAS NO SERIOUS CHEM/BIO WEAPONS

THREAT: In September 2002, President Bush said Iraq

" could launch a biological or chemical attack in as

little as 45 minutes after the order is given. " The

next month, he claimed that Iraq " possesses and

produces chemical and biological weapons. " He said

that " Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned

aerial vehicles (UAVs) that could be used to disperse

chemical or biological weapons. " What he did not say

was that the White House had been previously warned

that these assertions were unproved. As the Washington

Post reported, Bush " ignored the fact that U.S.

intelligence mistrusted the source " of the 45-minute

claim and, therefore, omitted it from its intelligence

estimates. Bush disregarded the fact that the Defense

Intelligence Agency #160;previously told the White

House it found " no reliable information " to prove Iraq

was producing or stockpiling chemical weapons. Bush

also neglected to point out that in early October

2002, the administration's top military experts told

the White House they " sharply disputed the notion that

Iraq's Unmanned Aerial Vehicles were being designed as

attack weapons. " Secretary of State Colin Powell also

ignored these warnings and claimed to the United

Nations on 2/5/03 that#160; " There can be no doubt

that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the

capability to rapidly produce more, many more. " What

he did not say is that he was specifically warned by

his own intelligence experts not to include these

claims in his speech.

 

THEY KNEW THERE WAS NO IRAQ-AL QAEDA CONNECTION:

President Bush said on 9/25/02 that " you can't

distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam. " He said

this, even though top lawmakers from his own party,

like Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), acknowledged weeks

beforehand that " Saddam is not in league with al

Qaeda " and that " I have not seen any intelligence that

would lead me to connect Saddam Hussein to al Qaeda. "

Immediately after Bush made his initial claim, USA

Today reported several intelligence experts " expressed

skepticism " about the claim, with a Pentagon official

calling the president's assertion an " exaggeration. "

No matter, Bush ignored these concerns and described

Saddam Hussein as " a man who loves to link up with al

Qaeda. " Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the

evidence was " bulletproof#8230;accurate and not

debatable. " Only weeks later, Europe's top terrorism

investigator reported " We have found no evidence of

links between Iraq and al Qaeda. " Nonetheless, Powell

ignored this and stood before the United Nations and

claimed there was a " sinister nexus between Iraq and

the al Qaeda. " A month later, Rice backed him up,

saying al Qaeda " clearly has had links to the Iraqis. "

 

CONTRACTORS

The Reconstruction Racket

 

$1.9 billion in contracts for Halliburton and other

American contractors that were supposed to be financed

with money approved by the U.S. have been paid for

with Iraqi money. Why? According to The Washington

Post, the Iraqi funds " were governed by fewer

restrictions and less rigorous oversight. " The use of

Iraqi money allowed the (now-defunct) U.S.-led

Coalition Provisional Authority " to bypass U.S.

contracting rules on competition, oversight and

monitoring for controversial projects. " One contract

was shifted over to Iraqi funds after a company that

was contracted to create new media outlets chartered a

jet " to fly in a Hummer H2 and a Ford pickup truck for

the program manager's use. " According to Anthea

Lawson, an analyst for Christian Aid, " American firms

[were] charging 10 times as much as Iraqi firms for

construction work. "

 

CPA DISHONEST ABOUT HOW IRAQI FUNDS WERE SPENT:

Previously, the U.S.-controlled Coalition Provisional

Authority had claimed " that most of the contracts paid

from Iraqi money [from oil sales] went to Iraqi

companies. " But in total, " at least 85 percent of the

total $2.26 billion [of Iraqi money] was obligated to

U.S. companies. " The contracts awarded to U.S. firms

" may be worth several hundred million more once the

work is completed. "

 

NO RECORDS, NO COMPETITION: Moreover, newly released

documents reveal " the CPA at times violated its own

rules, authorizing Iraqi money when it didn't have a

quorum or proper Iraqi representation at meetings, and

kept such sloppy records that the paperwork for

several major contracts could not be found. " During

the first part of the occupation the CPA " depended

heavily on no-bid contracts that were questioned by

auditors. " Iraqi officials were given " little say in

the use of their own country's money. " Iraqi companies

were not able to " get through the heavily guarded

gates of the occupation headquarters in the Green Zone

to meet with contracting officers. "

 

HALLIBURTON SHOWERED WITH IRAQI CASH: Most of the

Iraqi funds - $1.66 billion #8211; were paid to

Halliburton subsidiary KBR to import fuel for Iraq.

That contract #8211; tacked onto a no-bid contract

#8211; is now " the subject of several investigations

after allegations surfaced that a subcontractor for

Houston-based KBR overcharged by as much as $61

million for the fuel. " Before the KBR contract was

expanded, Mohammed Aboush, who was a director general

in the oil ministry during the occupation, told the

Americans at the CPA " that the Iraqis felt KBR's

performance had been inadequate and that he'd prefer

that another company take over its work. "

 

INVESTIGATIONS INTO HALLIBURTON MALFEASANCE MOUNT: The

SEC announced yesterday " the U.S. Securities and

Exchange Commission expanded an investigation into

payments related to a $5 billion Nigerian contract

when the company was led by Dick Cheney. " There are

allegations that the payments were bribes. Halliburton

also faces " a Justice Department investigation into

business with Iran when Cheney was chief executive and

a Pentagon inquiry into allegations of overpayment in

Iraq, where it is now the largest U.S. contractor. " On

Tuesday, " Halliburton agreed...to pay $7.5 million to

settle a commission investigation that said the

company secretly changed accounting practices to

increase net profit for 1998 and 1999, " while the

company was under Cheney's control.

 

CORP IMPLICATED IN PRISON ABUSE REWARDED WITH NO-BID

CONTRACT: A private interrogator for CACI

International Inc. " was cited for involvement in the

sexual humiliation of Iraqi captives at Baghdad's Abu

Ghraib prison. " CACI has not fired the investigator

who was implicated. Apparently, that didn't faze the

Department of Defense. The administration just

announced the " award of a no-bid contract worth up to

$23 million to CACI International Inc. to continue

providing private interrogators to gather intelligence

in Iraq. " The government said they were " satisfied "

with CACI's performance.

 

THE FORGOTTEN VICTIMS: Stockholders and high-level

management have profited handsomely from the enormous

government contracts given to U.S. firms in Iraq.

Meanwhile, at least 110 contractors working for U.S.

firms have died. The number could be even higher: " the

Pentagon does not keep an official count, and many

companies do not announce when their employees in Iraq

are killed. " Seven contractors died during the first

Gulf War. The death toll this time around has " created

an overlooked subculture of war-related grief, one in

which contractors' families confront a bureaucracy

that is largely inventing procedures on the fly. "

 

IRAQ

Chaos Continues

 

Over a month after the transfer of power in Iraq, the

country remains wracked with continued violence. This

morning, fighters loyal to the violent insurgent

leader Muqtada al-Sadr " shot down a U.S. helicopter in

fierce clashes in the Shi'ite city of Najaf that

threaten to unravel a deal agreed in June to end an

uprising by the militant cleric. " Meanwhile, a suicide

car bombing " killed five people and wounded 27 at a

police station south of Baghdad, the Interior Ministry

said. " And in Mosul, a city in northern Iraq often

cited as one of the war's success stories, insurgents

and Iraqi security forces battle, leaving at least 22

people dead. Mismanagement of the war has led to an

increasingly insecure situation, and the White House

is left hoping the American public is distracted.

 

NEW PRESSURE ON TROOPS: On top of their existing

duties, U.S. troops will now be responsible for

protecting U.N. staff. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi

Annan says any UN staff returning to Iraq will have to

rely on the existing US-led troops in Iraq for

protection. Annan " told U.N. Security Council

ambassadors on Wednesday that at least 5,000 troops

would be needed to protect the much larger U.N.

contingent needed to assist with elections and

reconstruction projects. " The U.N. had hoped to raise

an international security force to protect staff

returning later this month, but thus far has not

received any troop offers from the international

community. U.N. staff were removed from Iraq last

October due to increased security concerns.

 

DON'T FORGET: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld,

formerly the administration's " matinee idol, " has

overwhelmingly reduced his public profile in recent

days, " trimming appearances as the war has turned from

a positive for the Bush campaign into a potential

liability. " Since May, he's appeared at only two

Pentagon briefings. The White House, " which

coordinates which administration officials appear on

the networks' news-making Sunday talk shows, has not

lined up a Rumsfeld interview for months. " And of the

TV and radio interviews Rumsfeld has done since May,

" many have been with local media or with supportive

satellite and cable networks, which often give more

favorable coverage than other national media. "

(Remember the Blanquita Cullum lovefest?) Iraq policy

and media analysts say Rumsfeld's lower domestic

profile is part of " a broader strategy by the Bush

administration to shift the focus away from Iraq. " And

it's working. " Look at the front page #8212; Iraq is

not there, " said Ivo Daalder, a special advisor at the

Center for American Progress who has written

extensively on Iraq. " I think this is a deliberate

strategy by the Bush administration: This is what [the

transfer of sovereignty] was all about. "

 

CHALABI'S AL-SADR SUPPORT: Ahmad Chalabi was the

darling of conservatives in the White House,

handpicked for a prominent position in post-war Iraq.

He ultimately lost that support after feeding them the

false stories about WMD the administration hungered

for in order to promote his own quest for power. Now

he's#160; using the power the White House gave him in

Iraq to support#160; Iraq's " most prominent

anti-American Shiite cleric, " Muqtada al-Sadr. His

support for the violent al-Sadr is yet another power

grab: Chalabi wants to win support from a significant

segment of al-Sadr's followers if he chooses to run

for office.

 

SALEM INVESTIGATION: There's another Chalabi in the

news this week. Salem Chalabi is under investigation

for threatening an Iraqi official days before the man

was assassinated. Salem, who is heading the war crimes

tribunal investigating Saddam Hussein (thanks to his

uncle Ahmad), " has been accused by two individuals of

attempting to intimidate Haitham Fadhil, a Finance

Ministry official who was investigating the Chalabi

family's real estate holdings when he was killed in

May. " Sources say Fadhil's investigation found

" members of the Chalabi family and their political

party, the Iraqi National Congress, had illegally

seized hundreds of pieces of property after the

U.S.-led invasion last year, " including " mansions,

former government offices, ranches and agricultural

land. " Fadhil gave the fruits of his investigations to

a friend shortly before his death; the documents are

now in possession of the new Iraqi court system. Salem

denies he threatened Fadhil. Whether he's directly

involved or not, Salem was an unnecessarily

controversial choice whose presence disrupts the

prosecution of Saddam.

 

 

 

 

 

HOMELAND SECURITY #8211; SHELBY DIVULGED CLASSIFIED

MESSAGES: The Washington Post reports, " Federal

investigators concluded that Sen. Richard C. Shelby

(R-AL) divulged classified intercepted messages to the

media when he was on the Senate Select Committee on

Intelligence, according to sources familiar with the

probe. Specifically, Fox News chief political

correspondent Carl Cameron confirmed to FBI

investigators that Shelby verbally divulged the

information to him during a June 19, 2002, interview,

minutes after Shelby's committee had been given the

information in a classified briefing. " National

security officials and the president and vice

president were reportedly " outraged by the leak, "

which involved two messages intercepted by the

National Security Agency on the eve of the Sept. 11

attacks. Curiously, conservatives have refrained from

publicly chiding Shelby, in contrast to their behavior

just last week in response to now-discredited rumors

alleging former Clinton Advisor Samuel Berger withheld

documents from the 9/11 commission.

 

WAR ON TERROR #8211; SAUDIS LAVISH BUSHES WITH JEWELS:

According to Knight Ridder, the Saudi royal family

showered the Bush family and top Bush officials with

" $127,600 in jewelry and other presents " in 2003.

Though there remain serious questions about the Saudi

government's financial ties to al Qaeda, the Bush

family nonetheless accepted $95,500 worth of

diamond-and-sapphire jewelry for first lady Laura

Bush, two sets of diamond and white-gold jewelry and

an $8,500 mantel clock " elaborately detailed in silver

and gold vermeil. " At the very same time U.S. law

enforcement officials were expressing " deep

frustration " with the Saudis' unwillingness to

cooperate in the war on terror, White House Chief of

Staff Andy Card and National Security Adviser

Condoleezza Rice accepted two ornamental daggers;

Secretary of State Colin Powell accepted an ornamental

sword; and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accepted

a small golden statue. The Saudi royal family's gifts

" dwarfed those of other world leaders, according to

the tally, and easily eclipsed Abdullah's $55,020 in

gifts in 2002. "

 

NORTH KOREA #8211; REV. MOON AND NUCLEAR SUBS: Jane's

Defense Weekly reports this week that North Korea may

now be able to target California with sea-launched

missiles because it was able to acquire 12 ex-Soviet

submarines. And according to journalist John

Gorenfeld, those submarines may have come to North

Korea through a company connected to Reverend Sun

Myong Moon, the publisher of the right-wing Washington

Times. On his website, Gorenfeld shows declassified

Defense Intelligence Agency documents the transaction.

Moon has been undertaking an ambitious and diffuse

campaign to influence members of Congress, their top

foreign-policy staffs and United Nations ambassadors

with an ongoing series of seminars and junkets in New

York and Jerusalem and on Capitol Hill. At one

congressional event in June, Moon referred to himself

as " humanity's Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and

True Parent. "

 

AIDS #8211; DRUG COMPANIES GOUGE, BUSH STANDS ASIDE:

This week the Bush administration " refused to override

patents on the AIDS drug Norvir, effectively allowing

a quintupling of the price to stand despite consumer

groups' accusations of price gouging. " After Abbott

Laboratories raised the price of the 8-year-old Norvir

to $8.57 a day from $1.71 late last year, patient

groups and some members of Congress pushed the

National Institutes of Health (NIH) to take action,

arguing it was warranted because Norvir's discovery

was partially funded by taxpayer dollars. But the

president has accepted more than $21,000 from Abbott

executives, and the Republican National Committee has

raked in more than $440,000 in soft money from the

company, and thus the administration refused. A new

survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds

that Americans consider HIV/AIDS to be the second most

pressing health problem facing the nation behind

cancer, and among African-Americans it ranks first.

Two thirds of young African-Americans say the US is

losing ground in battling the epidemic.

 

HOMELAND SECURITY #8211; NEW JERSEY SHORT ON FUNDS:

The Los Angeles Times reports, " New Jersey Gov. James

E. McGreevey complained to President Bush on Tuesday

that his state would be disproportionately hurt by

proposed cuts in federal funding for anti-terrorism

efforts, just as New Jersey's threat level was

rising. " The governor called on Bush " to immediately

address New Jersey's outstanding request for

reconsideration of your extreme Homeland Security

budget cuts, as well as our request for increased

Homeland Security funding to New Jersey overall. " Just

days ago, the federal government upgraded five

northern New Jersey counties to high alert status in

response to warnings naming the Newark headquarters of

Prudential Financial Inc. as one of five prominent

buildings targeted by al Qaeda for possible attack.

Bush's proposed 2005 budget would slash direct aid to

New Jersey to $44 million from $55.4 million,

McGreevey said.

 

IRAQ #8211; CHILDREN DETAINED BY CPA: An investigation

by Scotland's Sunday Herald alleges that coalition

forces are holding more than 100 children in jails

such as Abu Ghraib across Iraq. " Witnesses claim that

the detainees #8211; some as young as 10 #8211; are

also being subjected to rape and torture. " The

Herald's investigation is based in part on an internal

UNICEF report written in June, which contains " a key

section on child protection, headed 'Children in

Conflict with the Law or with Coalition Forces,' " The

report contains vague details about detention centers

set up for children in Baghdad, but UNICEF was denied

visits to the centers. German journalists were the

first to pursue that and other reports of child abuse

in Iraq, including a claim made by an Iraqi TV

reporter of atrocities committed in " Abu Ghraib's

children's wing. " The UNICEF report outlines the

long-term damage such detentions could cause: " The

perceived unjust detention of Iraqi males, including

youths, for suspected activities against the occupying

forces has become one of the leading causes for the

mounting frustration among Iraqi youths and the

potential for radicalization of this population

group. "

 

#160;Don't Miss

DAILY TALKING POINTS: Helping Halliburton, Hurting

Iraqis

 

WHAT THEY WANTED: The Folly of the Bush

Administration's Torture Policy

 

ELECTION: Bruce Springsteen and Dave Matthews are

touring the country to beat Bush.

 

HOMELAND SECURITY: The New York Times chides the Bush

administration for its mismanagement of terror alerts.

 

LEGAL: Twelve former judges, eight American Bar

Association presidents and dozens of elected officials

and prominent attorneys signed on to a strong,

bipartisan statement condemning the Bush

Administration's preparation of memos related to

torture.

 

Contact The Progress Report.

 

 

 

 

#160;Daily Grill

 

" The Taliban is gone forever. "

 

- Vice President Cheney, 1/27/04

 

VERSUS

 

" Afghan President Hamid Karzai is seeking the support

of former Taliban officials...No former Taliban have

been given ministry positions yet, but it probably

won't be long until they are. "

 

- NPR, 8/3/04

 

#160;Daily Outrage

Just months after a private interrogator for CACI

international " was cited for involvement in the sexual

humiliation of Iraqi captives at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib

prison, " the Department of Defense awarded the company

with " a no-bid contract worth up to $23

million#8230;to continue providing private

interrogators to gather intelligence in Iraq. " The

government said it was " satisfied " with CACI's

performance.

 

#160;Archives

Progress Report

 

#160;Opportunity

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