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Pre-War Report, no Reliable Information on WMDs in Iraq
Aired June 06, 2003 - 10:01 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, CNN ANCHOR: We have a developing story coming out of the Pentagon this morning, where our Barbara Starr has obtained a summary of an intelligence assessment of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and this summary suggests that even as the Bush administration spoke with certainty of such a threat in its call for war, the Pentagon's own Defense Intelligence Agency raised some serious doubts. We have both the details and the reaction of all of that.
We'll check in with White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux about that in just a moment, but first to the Pentagon and Barbara Starr.
Barbara -- good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Leon.
Well, the Defense Intelligence Agency here at the Pentagon back in September of 2002 produced a classified report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. We've now seen a one-page unclassified summary of that report, and here's the headline.
What the DIA said was -- quoting -- "There is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons, or where Iraq has -- or will -- establish its chemical warfare agent production facilities."
Now, as recently as yesterday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld continued to insist the intelligence was solid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: My observation on the intelligence, although it's not my business but I read it, is that it's been good. It's been enriched, as they've gone through this past period of years. And that I believe that the presentation made by Secretary Powell was accurate and will be proved to be accurate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Now, of course, Secretary Rumsfeld referring to Secretary Powell's presentation back in February to the United Nations. That coming in February of this year, the DIA report the September before that. It is not clear whether there was more definitive information established in that timeframe. But back in 2002, the DIA saw a very mixed picture in Iraq. Their report said there was some unusual activity, suggesting that Iraq was distributing chemical munitions on the battlefield to its soldiers in anticipation of some sort of U.S. attack. But it also had a number of caveats. The report saying Iraq had chemicals and equipment to produce mustard agent, but that it could not have readily produced nerve agent, a very serious threat, because it didn't have the chemicals, and many of the facilities to do that had already been bombed by the United States.
So, the bottom line is the DIA, back in 2002 when the administration was beginning to make a very public case for the threat from Iraq, was uncertain about both the chemical weapons and the biological weapons. It had an assessment, but it was not certain -- Leon.
HARRIS: Very interesting. Thank you, Barbara. Nice work getting that and being the first to tell us about that -- Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.
Let's go now to the White House and get the response from there to this summary that's actually now been leaked to the press.
Suzanne -- have you heard anything at all from the White House on this?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House officials that I spoke with this morning say that they are not aware whether or not this DIA report actually arrived on the president's desk or here at the White House, that it even reached that level. They are looking into it.
But I did speak with a senior administration official this morning. He said the administration, the president, very confident that he made the right decision based on the right information to go to war with Iraq based on information they believed that Saddam Hussein had his weapons of mass destruction. The senior administration official recognized, however, that, of course, it is a test of the administration's credibility whether or not they actually produced those weapons of mass destruction.
But he said the reason that the White House is not worried about this is because you had the international community, you had the national security -- the U.N. Security Council, you had Congress all agreeing that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction; that that has been on record. The only question was what to do about it. And, of course, the U.S. responded by going to war with Iraq after inspectors were unsuccessful.
So, that is why the senior administration official says that he believes that the president and the administration are going to be proven correct in the end.
I should also tell you as well, Leon, talking to political insiders, talking to White House insiders, they don't think that this is really going to hurt the president. They don't really see this as an issue that resonates with voters. They say that, of course, the polls, if you look at the polls, still very high when it comes to the war with Iraq. They don't think it's really going to stick -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, very interesting. What's the president's schedule for the day, Suzanne? And will we hear from him on this today, do you think?
MALVEAUX: Oh, that's a very good question whether or not we're going to hear from him on this. We do know he has a meeting and a working lunch with the prime minister of Portugal to thank him for his support when it comes to the war with Iraq. You may remember he was one of the first leaders to get out there in the very front and be a part of this coalition of the willing. The president then afterwards, of course, on to Camp David. As you know, he's had a very busy week.
HARRIS: That's right. And so (UNINTELLIGIBLE) at the White House, and we'll get back to you once President Bush comes out and he does make any comment on all of that. Thank you very much, Suzanne -- Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.
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 6, 2003 - 10:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We have a developing story coming out of the Pentagon this morning, where our Barbara Starr has obtained a summary of an intelligence assessment of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and this summary suggests that even as the Bush administration spoke with certainty of such a threat in its call for war, the Pentagon's own Defense Intelligence Agency raised some serious doubts. We have both the details and the reaction of all of that.
We'll check in with White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux about that in just a moment, but first to the Pentagon and Barbara Starr.
Barbara -- good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Leon.
Well, the Defense Intelligence Agency here at the Pentagon back in September of 2002 produced a classified report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. We've now seen a one-page unclassified summary of that report, and here's the headline.
What the DIA said was -- quoting -- "There is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons, or where Iraq has -- or will -- establish its chemical warfare agent production facilities."
Now, as recently as yesterday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld continued to insist the intelligence was solid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: My observation on the intelligence, although it's not my business but I read it, is that it's been good. It's been enriched, as they've gone through this past period of years. And that I believe that the presentation made by Secretary Powell was accurate and will be proved to be accurate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Now, of course, Secretary Rumsfeld referring to Secretary Powell's presentation back in February to the United Nations. That coming in February of this year, the DIA report the September before that. It is not clear whether there was more definitive information established in that timeframe. But back in 2002, the DIA saw a very mixed picture in Iraq. Their report said there was some unusual activity, suggesting that Iraq was distributing chemical munitions on the battlefield to its soldiers in anticipation of some sort of U.S. attack. But it also had a number of caveats. The report saying Iraq had chemicals and equipment to produce mustard agent, but that it could not have readily produced nerve agent, a very serious threat, because it didn't have the chemicals, and many of the facilities to do that had already been bombed by the United States.
So, the bottom line is the DIA, back in 2002 when the administration was beginning to make a very public case for the threat from Iraq, was uncertain about both the chemical weapons and the biological weapons. It had an assessment, but it was not certain -- Leon.
HARRIS: Very interesting. Thank you, Barbara. Nice work getting that and being the first to tell us about that -- Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.
Let's go now to the White House and get the response from there to this summary that's actually now been leaked to the press.
Suzanne -- have you heard anything at all from the White House on this?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House officials that I spoke with this morning say that they are not aware whether or not this DIA report actually arrived on the president's desk or here at the White House, that it even reached that level. They are looking into it.
But I did speak with a senior administration official this morning. He said the administration, the president, very confident that he made the right decision based on the right information to go to war with Iraq based on information they believed that Saddam Hussein had his weapons of mass destruction. The senior administration official recognized, however, that, of course, it is a test of the administration's credibility whether or not they actually produced those weapons of mass destruction.
But he said the reason that the White House is not worried about this is because you had the international community, you had the national security -- the U.N. Security Council, you had Congress all agreeing that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction; that that has been on record. The only question was what to do about it. And, of course, the U.S. responded by going to war with Iraq after inspectors were unsuccessful.
So, that is why the senior administration official says that he believes that the president and the administration are going to be proven correct in the end.
I should also tell you as well, Leon, talking to political insiders, talking to White House insiders, they don't think that this is really going to hurt the president. They don't really see this as an issue that resonates with voters. They say that, of course, the polls, if you look at the polls, still very high when it comes to the war with Iraq. They don't think it's really going to stick -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, very interesting. What's the president's schedule for the day, Suzanne? And will we hear from him on this today, do you think?
MALVEAUX: Oh, that's a very good question whether or not we're going to hear from him on this. We do know he has a meeting and a working lunch with the prime minister of Portugal to thank him for his support when it comes to the war with Iraq. You may remember he was one of the first leaders to get out there in the very front and be a part of this coalition of the willing. The president then afterwards, of course, on to Camp David. As you know, he's had a very busy week.
HARRIS: That's right. And so (UNINTELLIGIBLE) at the White House, and we'll get back to you once President Bush comes out and he does make any comment on all of that. Thank you very much, Suzanne -- Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
