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Iraq's Weapons, was CIA Right, Wrong?
Aired May 22, 2003 - 13:12 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Was U.S. intelligence off base about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction? Well, "The New York Times" reports that the CIA is looking into whether prewar assessments of Iraq's weapons were on target.
Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has been looking into it. She joins us now live -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Well, indeed, senior U.S. intelligence officials tell CNN that Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet has now begun what he calls an "after-action report," taking a look at the war in Iraq and whether the intelligence was any good, taking a look at all of the information that the U.S. intelligence community had on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, on its links to the al Qaeda, on the regime of Saddam Hussein, its support for terrorism. Looking at all of that intelligence material and taking a look, now that the war is over, as to whether or not the analysis that the intelligence community came to was any good.
And, of course, the issue of weapons of mass destruction remains the really key issue that people are very interested in having another look at, because, of course, administration officials for months before the war broke out insisted that Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction. None of that's been found yet. All they have found are some of these mobile labs that you see, which the intelligence community has concluded must be mobile bio-labs, because there could be no other reason for them. But they still haven't found any of the material.
No word on when this after-action review will be completed and when we'll see any results -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Barbara, since we're talking about the intelligence community, yesterday this voice recording released of Ayman al- Zawahiri, the second in command under Osama bin Laden, why is the community -- the intel community now saying this tape may never be verified?
STARR: Very interesting question. They have listened to the tape, and they believe it probably -- probably is the Ayman al- Zawahiri. But here's the problem. The technical quality of the tape is so poor that intelligence community technicians have now decided they will never be able to completely verify whether it was him.
They believe it's him on the basis of two things. That people who have heard his voice, just audibly with no technical voice- matching, say it sounds like him. And some of the rhetoric on the tape is the type of language that he has been known to use in the past -- the call to arms against targets in the West. But not able to make an absolute 100 percent confirmed match -- Kyra
PHILLIPS: All right, Barbara Starr, live from the Pentagon, thank you.
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 May 22, 2003 - 13:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Was U.S. intelligence off base about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction? Well, "The New York Times" reports that the CIA is looking into whether prewar assessments of Iraq's weapons were on target.
Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has been looking into it. She joins us now live -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Well, indeed, senior U.S. intelligence officials tell CNN that Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet has now begun what he calls an "after-action report," taking a look at the war in Iraq and whether the intelligence was any good, taking a look at all of the information that the U.S. intelligence community had on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, on its links to the al Qaeda, on the regime of Saddam Hussein, its support for terrorism. Looking at all of that intelligence material and taking a look, now that the war is over, as to whether or not the analysis that the intelligence community came to was any good.
And, of course, the issue of weapons of mass destruction remains the really key issue that people are very interested in having another look at, because, of course, administration officials for months before the war broke out insisted that Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction. None of that's been found yet. All they have found are some of these mobile labs that you see, which the intelligence community has concluded must be mobile bio-labs, because there could be no other reason for them. But they still haven't found any of the material.
No word on when this after-action review will be completed and when we'll see any results -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Barbara, since we're talking about the intelligence community, yesterday this voice recording released of Ayman al- Zawahiri, the second in command under Osama bin Laden, why is the community -- the intel community now saying this tape may never be verified?
STARR: Very interesting question. They have listened to the tape, and they believe it probably -- probably is the Ayman al- Zawahiri. But here's the problem. The technical quality of the tape is so poor that intelligence community technicians have now decided they will never be able to completely verify whether it was him.
They believe it's him on the basis of two things. That people who have heard his voice, just audibly with no technical voice- matching, say it sounds like him. And some of the rhetoric on the tape is the type of language that he has been known to use in the past -- the call to arms against targets in the West. But not able to make an absolute 100 percent confirmed match -- Kyra
PHILLIPS: All right, Barbara Starr, live from the Pentagon, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
