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American Morning

CIA Chief Weapons Inspector: No WMD Found

Aired October 03, 2003 - 08:07   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: Now to the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The CIA's chief weapons inspector testified before Congress yesterday. He said no weapons have been found but that there were signs that Saddam Hussein's weapons programs was active.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID KAY, CIA CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: We have found substantial evidence of an intent of senior level Iraqi officials, including Saddam, to continue production at some future point in time of weapons of mass destruction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Senator Carl Levin of Michigan is a senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. He has been a critic of the administration's handling of pre-war intelligence on Iraq. Senator Levin joins us from Washington this morning.

Good morning to you, Senator. It's nice to have you.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: Good morning. Thank you.

O'BRIEN: So when you hear from David Kay that labs have been found, clearly some preliminary work on chemical agents was being done and not declared to U.N. weapons inspectors. In addition to that, apparently, evidence of long-range missile that the Iraqi government was trying to get their hands on.

Isn't this enough information for you at this point to say there was some activity, there was something going on in Iraq, even if so far now the weapons haven't actually been found?

LEVIN: Well, quite the opposite. What he confirmed yesterday is that there were no weapons found. And we went to war because we were told by the administration, and apparently they were told by the intelligence community, that he was in possession of weapons of mass destruction, and that he was an imminent threat.

That was the reason we went to war. It wasn't because he had some intent in the future to reconstitute or some plan. It was because he had weapons of mass destruction in his possession and was an imminent threat in terms of using them.

O'BRIEN: Malicious intent or just bad intelligence, then, in your opinion? LEVIN: We just have to investigate as to how is it possible that the intelligence community could be so far off. I mean, hundreds of suspect sites we were told about, photographs of nuclear facilities being reconstituted, and it all turns out to be nothing?

How is that possible, and was it because the intelligence community was exaggerating in order to please policymakers? Or was it the policymakers who are exaggerating the intelligence in order to drum up support for its decision to go to war? And it could be a combination of both.

But whatever it is, it's very, very serious, because we went to war based on those statements and representations that he had weapons in his possession.

O'BRIEN: You raise those questions yourself. George Tenet says what you are saying is premature. Do you think, then, that the CIA tailored the intelligence to help the administration?

LEVIN: Well, I think there's been troubling evidence for a long time that they did, in fact, exaggerate the intelligence to please the administration. But there's also, I'm afraid, evidence that the administration that took it from there, and made it even more vivid, more dramatic.

Even recently, we had the vice president saying that they had a robust nuclear program. Well, Kay says there's no evidence of a robust nuclear program...

O'BRIEN: But...

LEVIN: ... and Condoleezza Rice recently makes those same kinds of statements.

O'BRIEN: But David Kay -- forgive me for interrupting there.

LEVIN: Sure.

O'BRIEN: But David Kay says, "Hey, listen. I've been here for three months. And obviously, there is some evidence of activity, and it's premature, it's too early to say this is the end. In fact, all I'm saying is this is the beginning."

LEVIN: He's told us three months ago that he'd be done by the end of this year. He's got 1,500 people on the ground. Fine, there's still a possibility that he will find weapons of mass destruction. That possibility always ought to be left open, but this interim report, which was hyped so much by the administration just a month ago, is being -- is showing real progress in finding weapons of mass destruction. This is what you can expect, folks, dramatic progress from David Kay.

We have, I'm afraid, we've seen the opposite, which is a reaffirmation of some really troubling evidence that this administration or the intelligence community or both exaggerated the evidence that they had, in order to reach a conclusion and to get the public to reach a conclusion and the Congress, as well.

O'BRIEN: Do you think the U.N. weapons inspectors should be back in there, really handling the search?

LEVIN: I think they ought to be joining us, so that in the event something is found it will be much more credible.

I think that we have to involve the international community in many, many ways. We failed to do that going in. We ought to continue to try to do that so that this is not such an exclusively American or western effort.

The failure to internationalize this effort has really had a real cost and some of the "go it alone" rhetoric of this administration and decisions of this administration to go in on its own without international support are kind of chickens coming home to roost.

O'BRIEN: Senator Carl Levin is a Democrat from Michigan. Senator Levin, nice to have you. Thanks for joining us.

LEVIN: Good to be with 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 October 3, 2003 - 08:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: Now to the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The CIA's chief weapons inspector testified before Congress yesterday. He said no weapons have been found but that there were signs that Saddam Hussein's weapons programs was active.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID KAY, CIA CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: We have found substantial evidence of an intent of senior level Iraqi officials, including Saddam, to continue production at some future point in time of weapons of mass destruction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Senator Carl Levin of Michigan is a senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. He has been a critic of the administration's handling of pre-war intelligence on Iraq. Senator Levin joins us from Washington this morning.

Good morning to you, Senator. It's nice to have you.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: Good morning. Thank you.

O'BRIEN: So when you hear from David Kay that labs have been found, clearly some preliminary work on chemical agents was being done and not declared to U.N. weapons inspectors. In addition to that, apparently, evidence of long-range missile that the Iraqi government was trying to get their hands on.

Isn't this enough information for you at this point to say there was some activity, there was something going on in Iraq, even if so far now the weapons haven't actually been found?

LEVIN: Well, quite the opposite. What he confirmed yesterday is that there were no weapons found. And we went to war because we were told by the administration, and apparently they were told by the intelligence community, that he was in possession of weapons of mass destruction, and that he was an imminent threat.

That was the reason we went to war. It wasn't because he had some intent in the future to reconstitute or some plan. It was because he had weapons of mass destruction in his possession and was an imminent threat in terms of using them.

O'BRIEN: Malicious intent or just bad intelligence, then, in your opinion? LEVIN: We just have to investigate as to how is it possible that the intelligence community could be so far off. I mean, hundreds of suspect sites we were told about, photographs of nuclear facilities being reconstituted, and it all turns out to be nothing?

How is that possible, and was it because the intelligence community was exaggerating in order to please policymakers? Or was it the policymakers who are exaggerating the intelligence in order to drum up support for its decision to go to war? And it could be a combination of both.

But whatever it is, it's very, very serious, because we went to war based on those statements and representations that he had weapons in his possession.

O'BRIEN: You raise those questions yourself. George Tenet says what you are saying is premature. Do you think, then, that the CIA tailored the intelligence to help the administration?

LEVIN: Well, I think there's been troubling evidence for a long time that they did, in fact, exaggerate the intelligence to please the administration. But there's also, I'm afraid, evidence that the administration that took it from there, and made it even more vivid, more dramatic.

Even recently, we had the vice president saying that they had a robust nuclear program. Well, Kay says there's no evidence of a robust nuclear program...

O'BRIEN: But...

LEVIN: ... and Condoleezza Rice recently makes those same kinds of statements.

O'BRIEN: But David Kay -- forgive me for interrupting there.

LEVIN: Sure.

O'BRIEN: But David Kay says, "Hey, listen. I've been here for three months. And obviously, there is some evidence of activity, and it's premature, it's too early to say this is the end. In fact, all I'm saying is this is the beginning."

LEVIN: He's told us three months ago that he'd be done by the end of this year. He's got 1,500 people on the ground. Fine, there's still a possibility that he will find weapons of mass destruction. That possibility always ought to be left open, but this interim report, which was hyped so much by the administration just a month ago, is being -- is showing real progress in finding weapons of mass destruction. This is what you can expect, folks, dramatic progress from David Kay.

We have, I'm afraid, we've seen the opposite, which is a reaffirmation of some really troubling evidence that this administration or the intelligence community or both exaggerated the evidence that they had, in order to reach a conclusion and to get the public to reach a conclusion and the Congress, as well.

O'BRIEN: Do you think the U.N. weapons inspectors should be back in there, really handling the search?

LEVIN: I think they ought to be joining us, so that in the event something is found it will be much more credible.

I think that we have to involve the international community in many, many ways. We failed to do that going in. We ought to continue to try to do that so that this is not such an exclusively American or western effort.

The failure to internationalize this effort has really had a real cost and some of the "go it alone" rhetoric of this administration and decisions of this administration to go in on its own without international support are kind of chickens coming home to roost.

O'BRIEN: Senator Carl Levin is a Democrat from Michigan. Senator Levin, nice to have you. Thanks for joining us.

LEVIN: Good to be with 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