White House: Bush misstated report on Iraq

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White House: Bush misstated report on Iraq

 

 

http://www.msnbc.com/news/802167.asp

 

President meets with Blair on strategy ahead of speech

 

Sept. 7 — Seeking to build a case Saturday that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein

was developing weapons of mass destruction, President Bush cited a satellite

photograph and a report by the U.N. atomic energy agency as evidence of Iraq’s

impending rearmament. But in response to a report by NBC News, a senior

administration official acknowledged Saturday night that the U.N. report drew no

such conclusion, and a spokesman for the U.N. agency said the photograph had

been misinterpreted.

 

BUSH AND BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair talked to reporters before opening

about three hours of talks at Camp David, Bush’s presidential retreat in

Maryland.

Blair cited a newly released satellite photo of Iraq identifying new

construction at several sites linked in the past to Baghdad’s development of

nuclear weapons. And both leaders mentioned a 1998 report by the U.N.-affiliated

International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, that said Saddam could be six

months away from developing nuclear weapons.

“I don’t know what more evidence we need,†Bush said as he greeted Blair

for a brainstorming session on Iraq. “We owe it to future generations to deal

with this problem.â€

In a joint appearance before the summit, the two leaders repeated their shared

view that Saddam’s ouster was the only way to stop Iraq’s pursuit — and

potential use — of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

“The policy of inaction is not a policy we can responsibly to,â€

Blair said as he joined Bush in trying to rally reluctant allies to deal with

Saddam, perhaps by military force.

 

IAEA: NUCLEAR ABILITY DESTROYED

 

Contrary to Bush’s claim, however, the 1998 IAEA report did not say that Iraq

was six months away from developing nuclear capability, NBC News’ Robert

Windrem reported Saturday.

Instead, Windrem reported, the Vienna, Austria-based agency said in 1998 that

Iraq had been six to 24 months away from such capability before the 1991 Persian

Gulf War and the U.N.-monitored weapons inspections that followed.

The war and the inspections destroyed much of Iraq’s nuclear infrastructure

and required Iraq to turn over its highly enriched uranium and plutonium,

Windrem reported.

In a summary of its 1998 report, the IAEA said that “based on all credible

information available to date ... the IAEA has found no indication of Iraq

having achieved its programme goal of producing nuclear weapons or of Iraq

having retained a physical capability for the production of weapon-useable

nuclear material or having clandestinely obtained such material.â€

 

WHITE HOUSE ADMITS ERROR

A senior White House official acknowledged Saturday night that the 1998 report

did not say what Bush claimed. “What happened was, we formed our own

conclusions based on the report,†the official told NBC News’ Norah

O’Donnell.

 

IRAQIS MET WITH U.N. OFFICIALS

Windrem reported that of all the international inspection regimes — chemical,

biological, missile and nuclear — it is the U.N. inspectors who are most

comfortable with Iraq’s cooperation on nuclear matters. In fact, the United

Nations said last week that Iraq had been in contact with U.N. representatives

about a possible new round of talks on weapons inspections.

 

A top deputy to Saddam Hussein said the United States wantes to dominate Iraq to

control its vast oil reserves. NBC’s Ron Allen reports from Baghdad.

 

A Security Council report Tuesday on the work of UNMOVIC — the U.N.

Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission — found that personnel from

UNMOVIC and the atomic energy agency met in Vienna in July with Iraqi officials

and Dr. Jaffar Jaffar, a high-level Iraqi contact on nuclear weapons issues.

The head of UNMOVIC also took part in what the report called a “dialogueâ€

between Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri.

Tuesday’s report stated that Sabri wrote Annan expressing “the desire of the

Government of Iraq to conduct a round of technical talks†between Iraqi

officials and UNMOVIC representatives to review work on inspections between May

1991 and December 1998 and to discuss other matters to be resolved “when the

inspection regime returns to Iraq.â€

Sabri extended “the offer of Iraq to take part in a further series of

technical discussions†in a letter last month, the U.N. report said.

 

U.S. officials insisted Saturday night that there was plenty of evidence

nonetheless that Iraq was intent on developing weapons of mass destruction.

A senior administration official told NBC News that Iraq had also tried to

acquire thousands of aluminum tubes over the past 14 months that would

specifically be used in developing nuclear weapons. The shipments were blocked,

said the official, who would not say where they originated.

“There continues to be ample evidence that Saddam Hussein has relentlessly

tried to acquire and develop weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear

weapons,†the official said.

The tubing is needed to build gas centrifuges, which can be used to enrich

uranium to weapons grade.

 

EX-INSPECTOR DEFENDS IRAQ

In another development, a former U.N. arms inspector who does not believe that

Iraq is developing weapons of mass destruction, arrived in Baghdad declaring

that his mission was to try to stop any war on Iraq.

Scott Ritter, who arrived in Baghdad late Saturday, was expected to address the

Iraqi parliament on Sunday. He was also due to meet senior Iraqi officials.

 

Ritter said the trip was at his own initiative “As an American citizen

concerned about the direction that my country is taking, I think that’s the

reason why I’m here.â€

“I’m here to help set in motion a sequence of events that hopefully could

prevent a war that doesn’t need to be fought,†he told CNN.

 

‘A WAY FORWARD’

Bush and Blair met Saturday ahead of Bush’s speech Thursday to the U.N.

General Assembly to find ways to stop the threat posed by Saddam.

Blair said some international leaders were raising “perfectly reasonable

questions†about a possible military attack on Iraq. Many U.S. and British

allies are voicing doubts about a pre-emptive attack.

We’ve got to make sure that we work out a way forward that, of course,

mobilizes the maximum support but does so on the basis of removing a threat that

the United Nations itself has determined is a threat to the whole of the

world,†Blair said.

Aides insisted that Bush had not settled on when or even whether to use a

military attack or other means to accomplish that goal. Regardless, Blair — in

marked contrast to other U.S. allies who have urged caution — said the United

States should not have to go it alone.

 

“I do think it’s important we get the broadest possible support for what we

do,†Blair told reporters earlier Saturday aboard his plane. “We have always

got to act lawfully, and that we will do.â€

 

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an interview that there were differences

of opinion within the Bush administration over what action to take against

Saddam and that no decision had been made on a military strike.

“The president has not decided to undertake military action,†Powell said,

according to a transcript of the interview with the British Broadcasting Corp.

Bush, he said, “is examining all our options — political, diplomatic,

military.â€

In the transcript, released ahead of Sunday’s broadcast, Powell said the

president’s advisers “all have lots of views and we all communicate in

different ways.†He said members of the administration “have full, open

debate without pulling our punches.â€

 

NBC’s Robert Windrem and Norah O’Donnell; The Associated Press and Reuters

contributed to this report.