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CNN Live Today
U.S. Intelligence on WMD in Iraq Questioned
Aired June 03, 2003 - 11:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, ANCHOR: We're going to focus throughout the day on this crucial unresolved issue left by this war in Iraq. Are there weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? And if so, where are they?
The Bush and Blair administrations justified the U.S.-led invasion saying Saddam's regime had them, it was imminent, they were going to use them. Well, just yesterday Tony Blair says that he is 100 percent behind the intelligence. And over and over Bush officials have said it's going to take time to find them.
But there are those who say the U.S. and Britain oversold the threat of Iraq's weapons just to get Saddam out of power, regime change. To quiet the criticism the Bush team is sending the CIA's nuts and bolts intelligence on Iraq up to Congress.
So let's talk to Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr about that.
Morning, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon.
HARRIS: Well, what's the word this morning. Is the CIA plain wrong about its intelligence or what?
STARR: Well, you know, the CIA, the Pentagon, the White House, all of the Bush administration officials say no. They insist that there were weapons of mass destruction inside Iraq, that Saddam Hussein's regime had them.
Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday defending his February presentation to the United Nations, in which he laid out a very comprehensive case backed up by CIA intelligence. The CIA now saying that they defend their intelligence as well, that the information they had was very solid, that Iraq had the weapons of mass destruction.
But the CIA certainly, CIA director George Tenet, is feeling the pressure, Leon, because now the CIA says they will submit to Congress some of the backup information, some of the backup intelligence used for Secretary of State Powell's presentation to the United Nations.
So certainly much of the heat is now being felt.
HARRIS: All right. So now this information is going to be delivered to Congress. What then?
STARR: Well, there is a lot of growing sentiment in Congress, actually, for a series of hearings on this subject. Bipartisan support is growing, both sides of the aisle, both from the intelligence committees and the armed services committees. They clearly want to have some hearings and develop as much of a public record as they can. A lot of the information very classified, very sensitive.
But a lot of experts think that it's going to take awhile to shake out and see how much resonance this issue has with the public. If the public appears upset, then that will draw some of the political debate in Washington.
HARRIS: Well, if you go by the e-mails that we're getting this morning, Barbara, it seems like the subject really is resonating with the public. We asked for e-mails; they've been coming in by the ton, it seems, here this morning.
Are you seeing any signs there in Washington that that is happening, as well, across the country?
STARR: Very interesting question, Leon. It's hard to tell at this point whether this is beginning to resonate outside of Washington.
Now there is a new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll out that looks at this very question. It asks the question, "Did the Bush administration deliberately mislead the public about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction?" And as you see there, the response is fascinating. Thirty-one percent of the people say yes, they felt misled. But a whopping 67 percent so far say that they do not feel misled.
So the real question is what's the political fallout of all of this? Will this be a political problem for the Bush administration? So far it doesn't appear to be.
HARRIS: All right. Very quickly, where does the Pentagon go from here?
STARR: Well, that's the next step. The Pentagon this week is sending more than 1,000 new personnel, technical experts, intelligence experts, contractors off to Iraq for the new effort to look for weapons of mass destruction.
This is called the Iraqi Survey Group. It's part of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and this marks a fundamental shift in how the Bush administration is going to look for those weapons. They are going to stop doing what they've been doing for so many weeks now, going from site to site across Iraq and finding basically empty facilities. They say that just hasn't worked out for them; that hasn't panned out.
This new intelligence effort is going to focus much more on talking to people, looking at records in Iraq, trying to piece the puzzle together and develop the intelligence information first and then find the best places to look for it. So it still remains to be seen what, if anything, they're going to find. HARRIS: Very interesting. Could be a risk, too, letting it play out that long, as well. Barbara Starr, Pentagon. Thanks, Barbara. Appreciate that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 3, 2003 - 11:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, ANCHOR: We're going to focus throughout the day on this crucial unresolved issue left by this war in Iraq. Are there weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? And if so, where are they?
The Bush and Blair administrations justified the U.S.-led invasion saying Saddam's regime had them, it was imminent, they were going to use them. Well, just yesterday Tony Blair says that he is 100 percent behind the intelligence. And over and over Bush officials have said it's going to take time to find them.
But there are those who say the U.S. and Britain oversold the threat of Iraq's weapons just to get Saddam out of power, regime change. To quiet the criticism the Bush team is sending the CIA's nuts and bolts intelligence on Iraq up to Congress.
So let's talk to Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr about that.
Morning, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon.
HARRIS: Well, what's the word this morning. Is the CIA plain wrong about its intelligence or what?
STARR: Well, you know, the CIA, the Pentagon, the White House, all of the Bush administration officials say no. They insist that there were weapons of mass destruction inside Iraq, that Saddam Hussein's regime had them.
Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday defending his February presentation to the United Nations, in which he laid out a very comprehensive case backed up by CIA intelligence. The CIA now saying that they defend their intelligence as well, that the information they had was very solid, that Iraq had the weapons of mass destruction.
But the CIA certainly, CIA director George Tenet, is feeling the pressure, Leon, because now the CIA says they will submit to Congress some of the backup information, some of the backup intelligence used for Secretary of State Powell's presentation to the United Nations.
So certainly much of the heat is now being felt.
HARRIS: All right. So now this information is going to be delivered to Congress. What then?
STARR: Well, there is a lot of growing sentiment in Congress, actually, for a series of hearings on this subject. Bipartisan support is growing, both sides of the aisle, both from the intelligence committees and the armed services committees. They clearly want to have some hearings and develop as much of a public record as they can. A lot of the information very classified, very sensitive.
But a lot of experts think that it's going to take awhile to shake out and see how much resonance this issue has with the public. If the public appears upset, then that will draw some of the political debate in Washington.
HARRIS: Well, if you go by the e-mails that we're getting this morning, Barbara, it seems like the subject really is resonating with the public. We asked for e-mails; they've been coming in by the ton, it seems, here this morning.
Are you seeing any signs there in Washington that that is happening, as well, across the country?
STARR: Very interesting question, Leon. It's hard to tell at this point whether this is beginning to resonate outside of Washington.
Now there is a new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll out that looks at this very question. It asks the question, "Did the Bush administration deliberately mislead the public about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction?" And as you see there, the response is fascinating. Thirty-one percent of the people say yes, they felt misled. But a whopping 67 percent so far say that they do not feel misled.
So the real question is what's the political fallout of all of this? Will this be a political problem for the Bush administration? So far it doesn't appear to be.
HARRIS: All right. Very quickly, where does the Pentagon go from here?
STARR: Well, that's the next step. The Pentagon this week is sending more than 1,000 new personnel, technical experts, intelligence experts, contractors off to Iraq for the new effort to look for weapons of mass destruction.
This is called the Iraqi Survey Group. It's part of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and this marks a fundamental shift in how the Bush administration is going to look for those weapons. They are going to stop doing what they've been doing for so many weeks now, going from site to site across Iraq and finding basically empty facilities. They say that just hasn't worked out for them; that hasn't panned out.
This new intelligence effort is going to focus much more on talking to people, looking at records in Iraq, trying to piece the puzzle together and develop the intelligence information first and then find the best places to look for it. So it still remains to be seen what, if anything, they're going to find. HARRIS: Very interesting. Could be a risk, too, letting it play out that long, as well. Barbara Starr, Pentagon. Thanks, Barbara. Appreciate that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
