"Is this that surprising? The CIA isn't doing too well if they cannot figure out that there are good reasons to doubt anti-Iraq intelligence." The stuff I've been reading would indicate almost the contrary. Apparently, the Bush administration decided to more or less bypass the CIA's 'value added' analysis and grabbed the raw intelligence and interpreted it for itself. Was that a splash sound I heard? Hope this rat likes the water... -TD

From: Justin <justin-cypherpunks@soze.net> To: cypherpunks@al-qaeda.net Subject: Powell admits "mobile weapons factory" scam Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2004 21:58:46 +0000

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3596033.stm

...

In February last year he told the UN Security Council that Iraq had developed mobile laboratories for making biological weapons.

On Friday he conceded that information "appears not to be... that solid". ... Mr Powell said the US intelligence officers "indicated to me" that the information about the mobile labs was reliable, and "I made sure it was multi-sourced".

"Now, if the sources fell apart we need to find out how we've gotten ourselves in that position," he said.

"I have discussions with the CIA about it," he said, without providing further details. ... This admission by Mr Powell could further hurt the credibility of the Bush administration in what is an election year, our correspondent says.

Is this that surprising? The CIA isn't doing too well if they cannot figure out that there are good reasons to doubt anti-Iraq intelligence.

The intelligence, if untrue, may have been disseminated by Saddam or the Ba'athists for unknown purposes, perhaps to destabilize the region even at the cost of Ba'athist leadership, for instance. Even if he's truly a "Bad man" and a psychopath, I don't believe that he's a coward who is unwilling to die for his beliefs. Ba'athists live by the sword, and I don't see him being that hypocritical.

The intelligence may have been disseminated by the Kurds or other anti-Ba'athist forces for obvious reasons.

The intelligence, even if it was originally true, may have been leaked and then the mobile (and other) weapons factories and storage destroyed. The intended result would have been the current situation, with the Bush administration and intel community looking like idiots and the "soft on terror" Democrats having a foreign policy advantage in Nov 2004.

-- "You took my gun. It's just your word against mine!" "Not necessarily." -Bernie vs Tom, Miller's Crossing

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