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Bush Administration Being Accused of Misrepresenting Weapons Threat
Aired January 09, 2004 - 05:07 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The Bush administration is again being accused of misrepresenting the weapons threat from Iraq. This time the accusation comes from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Our David Ensor looks at that report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After six months of interviewing Iraqis and weapons inspectors and reviewing intelligence, the report's authors are scathing about the Bush administration's prewar statements on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs.
JESSICA MATHEWS, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: The representations by senior administration officials show a fairly systematic misrepresentation of the facts over and above the intelligence failings with respect to chemical and biological weapons.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm confident of what I presented last year.
ENSOR: At a news conference, Secretary of State Powell strongly defended his prewar presentation to the United Nations of what was known about Iraq's weapons programs.
POWELL: And anything that we did not feel was solid and multi- sourced, we did not use in that speech.
ENSOR: The Carnegie report says the threat was exaggerated and that war was not the best or only option. It calls for U.S. national security policy to drop the idea of unilateral preemptive war. It says U.S. intelligence was unduly influenced by policymakers and recommends possibly making the post of director of Central Intelligence a career job, not a presidential appointment, to avoid the politicization of intelligence.
CIA officials from the top down have consistently said there is no need for that kind of change, it would not work and that they've always and will always tell it like it is.
STUART COHEN, CIA OFFICIAL: No reasonable person could have reached conclusions other than the ones that we reached.
ENSOR (on camera): The Carnegie report's authors include members of former Democratic administrations who were always critics of the war. Still, it is carefully reschedule, it comes from a prestigious think tank and it is likely to be quoted this election year by whoever gets the Democratic Party nomination for president.
David Ensor, CNN, the State Department.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Weapons Threat>
Aired January 9, 2004 - 05:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The Bush administration is again being accused of misrepresenting the weapons threat from Iraq. This time the accusation comes from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Our David Ensor looks at that report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After six months of interviewing Iraqis and weapons inspectors and reviewing intelligence, the report's authors are scathing about the Bush administration's prewar statements on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs.
JESSICA MATHEWS, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: The representations by senior administration officials show a fairly systematic misrepresentation of the facts over and above the intelligence failings with respect to chemical and biological weapons.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm confident of what I presented last year.
ENSOR: At a news conference, Secretary of State Powell strongly defended his prewar presentation to the United Nations of what was known about Iraq's weapons programs.
POWELL: And anything that we did not feel was solid and multi- sourced, we did not use in that speech.
ENSOR: The Carnegie report says the threat was exaggerated and that war was not the best or only option. It calls for U.S. national security policy to drop the idea of unilateral preemptive war. It says U.S. intelligence was unduly influenced by policymakers and recommends possibly making the post of director of Central Intelligence a career job, not a presidential appointment, to avoid the politicization of intelligence.
CIA officials from the top down have consistently said there is no need for that kind of change, it would not work and that they've always and will always tell it like it is.
STUART COHEN, CIA OFFICIAL: No reasonable person could have reached conclusions other than the ones that we reached.
ENSOR (on camera): The Carnegie report's authors include members of former Democratic administrations who were always critics of the war. Still, it is carefully reschedule, it comes from a prestigious think tank and it is likely to be quoted this election year by whoever gets the Democratic Party nomination for president.
David Ensor, CNN, the State Department.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Weapons Threat>
