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White House May Consider Probe into Prewar Intelligence, says Senator |
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(Source: Voice of America news; issued Feb. 1, 2004)
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WASHINGTON --- The White House is coming under increasing pressure to back an independent inquiry into the intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq. The president has maintained that U.S. arms inspectors in Iraq should finish their work before an independent intelligence probe is considered.
But now there are signs of a change. Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, a top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, says the White House appears to be rethinking its stand.
"I understand that they are looking at the situation and they want to get the whole story," he said.
Speaking on the Fox News Sunday television program, Mr. Lott, who once served as Republican leader in the Senate, said he believes an independent inquiry is warranted. "In this case, there is no question there was an intelligence failure in some form or another," said Mr. Lott.
Demands for an independent probe began to increase last week when David Kay, the former chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq, went before television cameras and congressional committees. Mr. Kay said many people were misled by faulty pre-war intelligence, and said it was unlikely large stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction would ever be found in Iraq.
On Fox News Sunday, he said White House support for an independent inquiry would be welcome. He noted an internal inquiry is underway at the CIA and several Congressional committees have launched their own probes. But he stressed an independent study by experts with no political ties is needed, especially with a president election in November.
"I think this is not a witch hunt," said Mr. Kay. "This is a hunt about fundamental flaws in the way we collect, and have collected over a considerable period of time, our intelligence."
The case for war in Iraq has already become a big issue in the election campaign. The current front runner for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, is among those who have called the justification for invading Iraq into question.
"I think there has been an enormous amount of exaggeration, stretching, deception," said Senator Kerry.
West Virginia Democrat John Rockefeller, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, picked up that theme on Fox News, as he debated Trent Lott on the outlook for an independent commission. He rejected the notion that the timetable for the inquiry should be dictated by the election, with results possibly delayed until after voters go to the polls in November.
"We have got to do it fairly," said Mr. Rockefeller. "And we have got to do it promptly. You do not put the future of American security on hold." (ends)
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Majority of British Want Investigation Into Pre-War Intelligence |
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(Source: Voice of America news; issued Feb. 1, 2004)
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A majority of the British want an independent inquiry into the intelligence that was used to justify the war in Iraq.
Polls published in two London newspapers Sunday indicate more than 54 percent of those questioned want an investigation into British pre-war intelligence. One of the polls found that 61 percent of Britons believe Prime Minister Tony Blair's government exaggerated intelligence information about the threat from Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
The polls add momentum to calls from opposition leaders and anti-war protesters for an independent investigation. Mr. Blair has so far resisted, saying the intelligence he received at the time was valid. (ends)
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Former British Foreign Minister says Govt. Should Admit Iraq Intelligence was Wrong |
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(Source: Voice of America news; issued Feb. 1, 2004)
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LONDON --- A leading opponent of Britain's involvement in the Iraq war says the government should admit its intelligence on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction was wrong.
Anti-war critics in Britain are not backing down despite the verdict this week of a senior judge that Prime Minister Tony Blair did not deliberately embellish intelligence on Iraq's weapons threat.
The former foreign secretary, Robin Cook, has told British television Mr. Blair should concede he persuaded parliament to approve the invasion based on inaccurate intelligence estimates. "I really do wish the government would face up to the fact that the game is over," he said. "They cannot go on pretending that miraculously weapons are going to turn up someday when everyone in the Iraq Survey Group knows they are never going to find them. They have come to the end of the line and they should face reality."
The former head of the Iraq Survey Group, David Kay, says pre-war intelligence was so wrong the United States should conduct an independent inquiry. But a Blair spokesman said no such probe is warranted in Britain, and he says the search for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction should continue. (ends)
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200 Protest Outside British PM's Residence |
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(Source: Voice of America news; issued Feb. 1, 2004)
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About 200 protesters have demonstrated outside British Prime Minister Tony Blair's residence in London to demand an independent inquiry into why Britain went to war in Iraq.
Chanting anti-Blair slogans, the protesters Saturday also burned a copy of the Hutton Report - a judicial inquiry that criticized the British Broadcasting Corporation for a controversial news report about the decision to go to war.
Meanwhile, thousands of BBC employees have paid for an ad in one of London's largest newspapers in defense of former director general Greg Dyke, who quit after the release of the Hutton Report.
The full page ad in Saturday's Daily Telegraph said the BBC staff was dismayed at Mr. Dyke's resignation, but determined to maintain his vision for an independent news organization that serves the public above all else.
British Judge Lord Hutton on Wednesday said BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan's May 2003 report that Mr. Blair exaggerated the Iraqi weapons threat was unfounded. The judge cleared Prime Minister Blair's government of any wrongdoing. Lord Hutton also called the BBC's editorial procedures "defective" and the board of governors' oversight inadequate.
The release of the report has prompted three resignations at the British media organization. The journalist at the center of the storm, Andrew Gilligan, resigned on Friday. Earlier in the week Mr. Dyke and BBC Chairman Gavyn Davies also resigned.
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