Republican senator says Iraqi mobile labs probably 'did not exist'

[1CAV]

Republican senator says Iraqi mobile labs probably 'did not exist'
Chairman of Senate Intelligence Committee criticizes prewar U.S. intelligence

By Bob Drogin
Los Angeles Times
Published on: 04/04/04

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday for the first time that Saddam Hussein's alleged mobile germ factories and labs probably "did not exist," and he sharply criticized prewar U.S. intelligence about Iraq's suspected weapons.

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., who typically is a strong supporter of the CIA and the Bush White House, said the administration's use of flawed intelligence regarding the alleged mobile bioweapons facilities is "embarrassing for everybody."

Roberts' barbed comments on CNN stoked a growing controversy at senior levels of the Bush administration and in the intelligence community over whether the CIA was duped by duplicitous Iraqi defectors into conjuring up a phantom biological weapons system that became a key piece of evidence in the White House case for war.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell complained to reporters last week that the CIA's intelligence sources were not "solid." He said agency officials had assured him early last year that multiple sources had confirmed that Iraq had concealed germ factories in trucks and railroad cars. He said their account had formed the "most dramatic" part of his address to the U.N. Security Council six weeks before the war.

The Los Angeles Times reported on March 28 that the CIA's primary source for information on the alleged mobile weapons labs was an Iraqi defector codenamed "Curveball." The CIA never interviewed the defector, a Baghdad engineer who had sought refuge in Germany, and did not learn his identity until after the war, the Times reported.

U.S. intelligence officials and congressional investigators said they determined after the war that most of Curveball's claims were false. They said the defector, the brother of a senior aide to Ahmad Chalabi -- a former Iraqi exile leader with close ties to the Pentagon -- apparently had been coached to provide detailed information to German authorities that then was funneled to Washington.

Former chief U.S. weapons hunter David Kay told the Times that his investigation in Iraq last summer and fall showed that two other Iraqi defectors cited by Powell as providing corroboration for Curveball's account had only "heard" of the vehicles but had not seen or worked on them.

The CIA acknowledged in February that Powell also had cited information from a Iraqi defector who was known to be unreliable. Officials said the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency had posted a "fabrication notice" about the defector in mid-2002 on a classified computer network, but that the CIA officials who briefed Powell before his speech were unaware of the warning.

A CIA spokesman said Sunday he could not comment on either Roberts' or Powell's remarks, or whether the CIA had abandoned its claims about Iraq's mobile facilities.

U.S., British and Australian weapons-hunting teams found no evidence over the past year to support the CIA's assessments that Saddam's regime was producing and stockpiling chemical and biological weapons, and was reconstituting a nuclear weapons program, before the war.

Kay told a Senate committee in January that it appeared all such clandestine weapons work had been destroyed or abandoned in the early 1990s, and that the CIA and other Western spy services had misinterpreted intelligence about Iraq's weapons programs over the last decade. Recent reports by both the British and Israeli governments have reached similar conclusions.

Unlike other illicit weapons that once were part of Iraq's arsenal, however, no evidence has yet emerged to show that Iraq ever had a covert program to develop or build a fleet of vehicles to brew and spew out anthrax, botulinum toxin and other deadly germs that could kill thousands of people, as the CIA had claimed.

Appearing Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer," Roberts said the CIA's claims on the vehicles were "embarrassing to everybody who used the intelligence," including members of Congress, officials in both the Clinton and Bush administrations, and "especially Secretary Powell."

Roberts added that an investigation by his committee into the prewar intelligence had focused in part on the alleged mobile germ factories. Committee members are now reviewing the draft report and conclusions, and Roberts said he aims to release an unclassified version in late May.

Although the report is not yet complete, "I think there is a preponderance of evidence that those mobile labs did not exist, in regards to any kind of biological weaponry," he said.

Roberts blamed, in part, what he called "an assumption train" by U.S. and other intelligence agencies that all signs were interpreted to mean that Iraq was hiding banned weapons. "We have a real systemic problem on our hands," he said.

[Snowden]

Didn't they find remains of what appeared to be laboratories in northern Iraq, in railroad cars or some such contrivance?

We know that at some point Saddam had chemical or biological weapons. He kindly tested them - not on laboratory animals - but on the Kurds. Sunni Muslims who didn't want him as their leader. With that knowledge, I imagine it was easy to make believers of anyone looking for a reason to attack Saddam using WMD as the reason. But this - it's a real bag of worms!

The CIA acknowledged in February that Powell also had cited information from a Iraqi defector who was known to be unreliable. Officials said the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency had posted a "fabrication notice" about the defector in mid-2002 on a classified computer network, but that the CIA officials who briefed Powell before his speech were unaware of the warning.

Is there an excuse for Powell not being informed of this? It's hardly his fault; it is the fault of the CIA officiels and their informants.

The CIA never interviewed the defector, a Baghdad engineer who had sought refuge in Germany, and did not learn his identity until after the war, the Times reported.

Why not?

Although the report is not yet complete

I wonder if it will be complete in, say, December?

[robini123]

That's funny. I could have sworn that I saw video of the mobile labs on every major news station.

[Snowden]

Originally Posted by robini123

That's funny. I could have sworn that I saw video of the mobile labs on every major news station.

And in all the newspapers, too, I think. I don't know about TV - we don't watch it. I like my news without the bias. That's really not possible, though, is it?

It seems to me also that France and Germany caused a tremendous delay and during that time Saddam may have hidden or shipped out whatever weapons he may have had. Not that I think he had them necessarily, but the time was there and it muddies things up quite a bit. He probably did think that the U.N. would prevail and we would back off again. It's doubtful he still had the weapons.

But there were suits - the kind used for nuclear or chemical research; the portable labs were reported to be found.

I know this happened!

[Carnage_59]

Hey, ho, ho!!! Tenet's got to go!!!

[Joker]

Originally Posted by robini123

That's funny. I could have sworn that I saw video of the mobile labs on every major news station.

Well, as long as everyone's sure (albeit not to the point of being able to dredge up solid evidence), that's all right, then. I heard, and read, that the 'laboratories' were for producing hydrogen, but what do I know?

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/inter...977853,00.html

[robini123]

Originally Posted by Joker

Well, as long as everyone's sure (albeit not to the point of being able to dredge up solid evidence), that's all right, then. I heard, and read, that the 'laboratories' were for producing hydrogen, but what do I know?

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/inter...977853,00.html

So the link is your evidence, or are you posting it to show another opinion?

I see three possibilities here.

1. I didn't watch the news the day that was reported.

2. There is a major cover-up to hide the truth and silence the media.

3. The hydrogen theory was not universally seen as fact.

I think if it were true, the Liberal politicians would take every opportunity to through this in the Presidents face.