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David Kay Reports on Iraqi Weapons; British Government Cleared in WMD Scandal

Aired January 28, 2004 - 15:01   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Do the dead ends justify the means in Iraq? That's just one of the questions surrounding David Kay's tell-all appearance today before the Senate Armed Services Committee, an appearance only five days after Kay resigned from the survey group that is scouring Iraq, so far in vain, for weapons of mass destruction. The White House maintains, the story is far from over.
And CNN's Kathleen Koch is all over it.

Hello, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.

Fascinating exchanges, not only up on Capitol Hill today, but also right here in the White House briefing room, the White House obviously stinging over these statements and being forced to tone down its statements on Iraq, after the former weapons inspector, David Kay, came out with a statement saying that there were no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.

But David Kay insisted today that President Bush and his administration were not the only ones misled by the prewar intelligence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID KAY, FORMER CHIEF U.S. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: We were almost all wrong. And I certainly include myself here. Senator Kennedy knows very directly. Senator Kennedy and I talked on several occasions prior to the war that my view was that the best evidence that I had seen was that Iraq, indeed, had weapons of mass destruction.

I would also point out that many governments that chose not to support this war, certainly the French -- President Chirac, as I recall, in April of last year, referred to Iraq's possession of WMD. The Germans, certainly the intelligence service, believed that there were WMD. It turns out, we were all wrong, probably, in my judgment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Now, Kay said that his investigation found no evidence whatsoever that the Bush administration in any way pressured intelligence analysts to shape their conclusions about Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction programs. Here at the White House, President Bush and his spokesman, Scott McClellan, continued to refer to President Saddam Hussein as a -- quote -- "grave and gathering threat." Gone is the insistence that Iraq definitely had weapons of mass destruction or that they would eventually be discovered.

But McClellan did disagree with Kay that an independent investigation needs to be conducted on why the intelligence was, at least up until now, apparently faulty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The mission of the Iraq Survey Group is to find the truth. That work is ongoing. They did provide a progress report, I would remind you, which showed that Saddam Hussein's regime was, indeed, in material breach of Security Council Resolution 1441.

So, it's important that we let the Iraq Survey Group complete their work, gather all the facts that they can. Then we can go back and compare what we knew before the war with what we've learned since.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: And, interestingly, praise coming from both sides, as they square off on this issue. McClellan praising Kay, saying -- quote -- "He did a great job. We very much appreciate his services," and Kay praising the Bush administration for naming someone as independent and outspoken as himself to the post -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Kathleen Koch, at the White House.

If you'd like to hear more from David Kay, Wolf Blitzer's got him. He will be the guest on "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS" 5:00 p.m. Eastern, 2:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.

If possible, the pre-Iraq war intelligence controversy has caused an even bigger splash on the other side of the pond, Britain, to be exact, where a judge today ruled the British government neither deliberately overstated the threat from Saddam Hussein, nor drove a respected British scientist to suicide.

CNN's Diana Muriel reports from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Clutching his report, Lord Hutton made his way into London's Royal Courts of Justice to deliver his findings into the circumstances surrounding the death of British weapons expert Dr. David Kelly last July. After months of speculation, made worse in the final hours by the apparent leaking of the report to Britain's leading tabloid newspaper, Lord Hutton finally delivered his conclusions.

LORD HUTTON, SENIOR APPEALS JUDGE: I'm satisfied that Dr. Kelly took his own life by cutting his left wrist, and that his death was hastened by his taking Coproxamol tablets. I'm further satisfied that there was no involvement by a third person.

MURIEL: As Lord Hutton detailed the key pieces of evidence relating to his inquiry, the focus of his criticism was concentrated on reporting by BBC radio journalist Andrew Gilligan.

Immediately following Kelly's death, Gilligan confirmed, the Ministry of Defense scientist had been his source for a radio report, asserting the British government had exaggerated claims into a September 2002 dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction by stating they could be deployed within 45 minutes.

HUTTON: The allegation in the broadcast that the government probably knew that the 45 minutes figure was wrong, even before it decides to put it in, was a very grave allegation, which attacked the integrity of the government and the integrity of the Joint intelligence Committee.

MURIEL: Hutton went on to castigate the management of the BBC for a failure of control at the corporation.

HUTTON: The governors are to be criticized for themselves failing to make more detailed investigations into whether this allegation reported by Mr. Gilligan was properly supported by his notes and for failing to give proper and adequate consideration to whether the BBC should publicly acknowledge that this very grave allegation should not have been broadcast.

MURIEL: The BBC chairman, Gavyn Davies, resigned later on Wednesday. But both the prime minister and the Ministry of Defense were exonerated by Lord Hutton for the part they played in the tragedy. Kelly himself advised his managers that he had had an unauthorized meeting with Gilligan. As a consequence, Hutton held, the government simply did what it had to do.

HUTTON: The surrounding circumstances confirm, in my opinion, that the purpose of the prime minister and his officials in deciding to issue the statement that an unnamed civil servant had come forward was to protect the government from the charge of cover-up and of withholding important and relevant information.

MURIEL: Mild criminal for the Ministry of Defense press offices who had confirmed Kelly's name as the BBC source to journalists was tempered by this.

HUTTON: These criticisms are subject to the mitigating circumstances that, one, Dr. Kelly's exposure to press attention and intrusion was obviously very stressful was only one of the factors placing him under great stress. Two, individual officials in the (INAUDIBLE) did try to help and support him in the ways in which I've described. And three, because of his intensely private nature, Dr. Kelly was not an easy man to help or for whom to give advice.

MURIEL: At the conclusion of his statement, Lord Hutton voiced his anger at the leaking of the findings of his inquiry to the press, the leading law lord warning, he is considering legal action on the matter. Diana Muriel, CNN, London.

(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




Cleared in WMD Scandal>


Aired January 28, 2004 - 15:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Do the dead ends justify the means in Iraq? That's just one of the questions surrounding David Kay's tell-all appearance today before the Senate Armed Services Committee, an appearance only five days after Kay resigned from the survey group that is scouring Iraq, so far in vain, for weapons of mass destruction. The White House maintains, the story is far from over.
And CNN's Kathleen Koch is all over it.

Hello, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.

Fascinating exchanges, not only up on Capitol Hill today, but also right here in the White House briefing room, the White House obviously stinging over these statements and being forced to tone down its statements on Iraq, after the former weapons inspector, David Kay, came out with a statement saying that there were no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.

But David Kay insisted today that President Bush and his administration were not the only ones misled by the prewar intelligence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID KAY, FORMER CHIEF U.S. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: We were almost all wrong. And I certainly include myself here. Senator Kennedy knows very directly. Senator Kennedy and I talked on several occasions prior to the war that my view was that the best evidence that I had seen was that Iraq, indeed, had weapons of mass destruction.

I would also point out that many governments that chose not to support this war, certainly the French -- President Chirac, as I recall, in April of last year, referred to Iraq's possession of WMD. The Germans, certainly the intelligence service, believed that there were WMD. It turns out, we were all wrong, probably, in my judgment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Now, Kay said that his investigation found no evidence whatsoever that the Bush administration in any way pressured intelligence analysts to shape their conclusions about Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction programs. Here at the White House, President Bush and his spokesman, Scott McClellan, continued to refer to President Saddam Hussein as a -- quote -- "grave and gathering threat." Gone is the insistence that Iraq definitely had weapons of mass destruction or that they would eventually be discovered.

But McClellan did disagree with Kay that an independent investigation needs to be conducted on why the intelligence was, at least up until now, apparently faulty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The mission of the Iraq Survey Group is to find the truth. That work is ongoing. They did provide a progress report, I would remind you, which showed that Saddam Hussein's regime was, indeed, in material breach of Security Council Resolution 1441.

So, it's important that we let the Iraq Survey Group complete their work, gather all the facts that they can. Then we can go back and compare what we knew before the war with what we've learned since.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: And, interestingly, praise coming from both sides, as they square off on this issue. McClellan praising Kay, saying -- quote -- "He did a great job. We very much appreciate his services," and Kay praising the Bush administration for naming someone as independent and outspoken as himself to the post -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Kathleen Koch, at the White House.

If you'd like to hear more from David Kay, Wolf Blitzer's got him. He will be the guest on "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS" 5:00 p.m. Eastern, 2:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.

If possible, the pre-Iraq war intelligence controversy has caused an even bigger splash on the other side of the pond, Britain, to be exact, where a judge today ruled the British government neither deliberately overstated the threat from Saddam Hussein, nor drove a respected British scientist to suicide.

CNN's Diana Muriel reports from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Clutching his report, Lord Hutton made his way into London's Royal Courts of Justice to deliver his findings into the circumstances surrounding the death of British weapons expert Dr. David Kelly last July. After months of speculation, made worse in the final hours by the apparent leaking of the report to Britain's leading tabloid newspaper, Lord Hutton finally delivered his conclusions.

LORD HUTTON, SENIOR APPEALS JUDGE: I'm satisfied that Dr. Kelly took his own life by cutting his left wrist, and that his death was hastened by his taking Coproxamol tablets. I'm further satisfied that there was no involvement by a third person.

MURIEL: As Lord Hutton detailed the key pieces of evidence relating to his inquiry, the focus of his criticism was concentrated on reporting by BBC radio journalist Andrew Gilligan.

Immediately following Kelly's death, Gilligan confirmed, the Ministry of Defense scientist had been his source for a radio report, asserting the British government had exaggerated claims into a September 2002 dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction by stating they could be deployed within 45 minutes.

HUTTON: The allegation in the broadcast that the government probably knew that the 45 minutes figure was wrong, even before it decides to put it in, was a very grave allegation, which attacked the integrity of the government and the integrity of the Joint intelligence Committee.

MURIEL: Hutton went on to castigate the management of the BBC for a failure of control at the corporation.

HUTTON: The governors are to be criticized for themselves failing to make more detailed investigations into whether this allegation reported by Mr. Gilligan was properly supported by his notes and for failing to give proper and adequate consideration to whether the BBC should publicly acknowledge that this very grave allegation should not have been broadcast.

MURIEL: The BBC chairman, Gavyn Davies, resigned later on Wednesday. But both the prime minister and the Ministry of Defense were exonerated by Lord Hutton for the part they played in the tragedy. Kelly himself advised his managers that he had had an unauthorized meeting with Gilligan. As a consequence, Hutton held, the government simply did what it had to do.

HUTTON: The surrounding circumstances confirm, in my opinion, that the purpose of the prime minister and his officials in deciding to issue the statement that an unnamed civil servant had come forward was to protect the government from the charge of cover-up and of withholding important and relevant information.

MURIEL: Mild criminal for the Ministry of Defense press offices who had confirmed Kelly's name as the BBC source to journalists was tempered by this.

HUTTON: These criticisms are subject to the mitigating circumstances that, one, Dr. Kelly's exposure to press attention and intrusion was obviously very stressful was only one of the factors placing him under great stress. Two, individual officials in the (INAUDIBLE) did try to help and support him in the ways in which I've described. And three, because of his intensely private nature, Dr. Kelly was not an easy man to help or for whom to give advice.

MURIEL: At the conclusion of his statement, Lord Hutton voiced his anger at the leaking of the findings of his inquiry to the press, the leading law lord warning, he is considering legal action on the matter. Diana Muriel, CNN, London.

(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




Cleared in WMD Scandal>