Sgt Sostand
07-08-03, 12:08 PM
President made remark
in State of the Union speech
The Bush administration acknowledged for the first time yesterday that President Bush should not have claimed in his State of the Union address in January that Iraq had sought to buy uranium in Africa to reconstitute its nuclear weapons program.
THE STATEMENT was prompted by publication of a British parliamentary commission report that raised serious questions about the reliability of British intelligence that was cited by Bush as part of his effort to convince Congress and the American people that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction program were a threat to U.S. security.
BALD CLAIM’
The British panel said it was unclear why the British government asserted as a “bald claim” that there was intelligence that Iraq had sought to buy significant amounts of uranium in Africa. It noted that the CIA had already debunked this intelligence, and questioned why an official British government intelligence dossier published four months before Bush’s speech included the claim as part of an effort to make the case for going to war against Iraq.
The findings by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee undercut one of the Bush administration’s main defenses for including the allegation in the president’s speech — namely that despite the CIA’s questions about the claim, British intelligence was still asserting that Iraq had indeed sought to buy uranium in Africa.
In his Jan. 28 State of the Union address, Bush made the claim that Iraq was trying to obtain uranium from Africa.
Asked about the British report, the administration released a statement that, after weeks of questioning about the president’s uranium-purchase claim, effectively conceded that intelligence underlying the president’s statement was wrong.
“Knowing all that we know now, the reference to Iraq’s attempt to acquire uranium from Africa should not have been included in the State of the Union speech,” a senior Bush administration official said last night in a statement authorized by the White House.
The administration’s statement capped months of turmoil over the uranium episode during which senior officials have been forced to defend the president’s remarks in the face of growing reports that they were based on faulty intelligence.
As part of his case against Iraq, Bush said in his State of the Union speech last Jan. 28 that “the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency told the U.N. Security Council in March that the uranium story — which centered on documents alleging Iraqi efforts to buy the material from Niger — was based on forged documents. Although the administration did not dispute the IAEA’s conclusion, it launched the war against Iraq later that month.
It subsequently emerged that the CIA the previous year had dispatched a respected former senior diplomat, Joseph C. Wilson, to Niger to investigate the claim and that Wilson had reported back that officials in Niger denied the story. The administration never made Wilson’s mission public and questions have been raised over the past month over how the CIA characterized his conclusion in its classified intelligence reports inside the administration.
The report by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee followed weeks of hearings by the panel into two intelligence dossiers on Iraq’s weapons programs — one published in September and the other in January — that the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair used to justify
supporting the administration in going to war against Iraq.
in State of the Union speech
The Bush administration acknowledged for the first time yesterday that President Bush should not have claimed in his State of the Union address in January that Iraq had sought to buy uranium in Africa to reconstitute its nuclear weapons program.
THE STATEMENT was prompted by publication of a British parliamentary commission report that raised serious questions about the reliability of British intelligence that was cited by Bush as part of his effort to convince Congress and the American people that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction program were a threat to U.S. security.
BALD CLAIM’
The British panel said it was unclear why the British government asserted as a “bald claim” that there was intelligence that Iraq had sought to buy significant amounts of uranium in Africa. It noted that the CIA had already debunked this intelligence, and questioned why an official British government intelligence dossier published four months before Bush’s speech included the claim as part of an effort to make the case for going to war against Iraq.
The findings by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee undercut one of the Bush administration’s main defenses for including the allegation in the president’s speech — namely that despite the CIA’s questions about the claim, British intelligence was still asserting that Iraq had indeed sought to buy uranium in Africa.
In his Jan. 28 State of the Union address, Bush made the claim that Iraq was trying to obtain uranium from Africa.
Asked about the British report, the administration released a statement that, after weeks of questioning about the president’s uranium-purchase claim, effectively conceded that intelligence underlying the president’s statement was wrong.
“Knowing all that we know now, the reference to Iraq’s attempt to acquire uranium from Africa should not have been included in the State of the Union speech,” a senior Bush administration official said last night in a statement authorized by the White House.
The administration’s statement capped months of turmoil over the uranium episode during which senior officials have been forced to defend the president’s remarks in the face of growing reports that they were based on faulty intelligence.
As part of his case against Iraq, Bush said in his State of the Union speech last Jan. 28 that “the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency told the U.N. Security Council in March that the uranium story — which centered on documents alleging Iraqi efforts to buy the material from Niger — was based on forged documents. Although the administration did not dispute the IAEA’s conclusion, it launched the war against Iraq later that month.
It subsequently emerged that the CIA the previous year had dispatched a respected former senior diplomat, Joseph C. Wilson, to Niger to investigate the claim and that Wilson had reported back that officials in Niger denied the story. The administration never made Wilson’s mission public and questions have been raised over the past month over how the CIA characterized his conclusion in its classified intelligence reports inside the administration.
The report by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee followed weeks of hearings by the panel into two intelligence dossiers on Iraq’s weapons programs — one published in September and the other in January — that the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair used to justify
supporting the administration in going to war against Iraq.