Center for American Progress: Whitewash on Intelligence Failures

"The more we learn about the manipulation of intelligence leading to the war in Iraq, the more the finger points directly at the White House. Yesterday's appearance by the top Senators on the Intelligence Committee combined with the devastating report issued last week raised even more questions that need to be answered. Yet one thing is clear: the administration's attempt to directly funnel bad intelligence from the Pentagon to the White House has left Americans less safe than before.

* The Senate report fails to answer critical questions about intelligence failures prior to the invasion of Iraq. The committee's report fails to discuss the politicization of intelligence by the administration and its allies; the role of administration officials outside the CIA in producing phony intelligence; or the use of favored Iraqi exiles like Ahmed Chalabi. It fails to mention the Office of Special Plans in the Pentagon, the tightly controlled intelligence unit which had a direct pipeline to Vice President Cheney. Nor does it examine the administration's claims of links between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein which have already been rebuked by the 9/11 commission.
* The Bush administration relied on suspect intelligence about Iraqi biological weapons pushed by its own rogue intelligence group. On "Meet the Press" yesterday, Sens. Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, challenged the use of information supplied by the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Office of Special Plans. The administration's misleading case on Iraqi biological weapons capabilities relied heavily on a suspect DIA source named "Curveball" who "provided 98 percent of the assessment as to whether or not the Iraqis had a biological weapon," according to Roberts.
* The administration needs to come clean about its role in developing and promoting false intelligence and exaggerated threats about Iraq. As the nation awaits the full investigation of the administration's actions before the war – conveniently due out after the election – the administration should level with the public about its role in leading the nation to war based on misleading and overstated intelligence."