Wapo Article: Bush's Iraq Claims 'Substantiated By Intelligence Community Estimates'

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) is set to release the highly touted report where Rockefeller claims "Bush Lied" regarding Iraq, but the report shows that the intel at that time substantiated what Bush said.

Fred Hiatt, the editorial page Editor for Washington Post (Wapo) went through the report issued Thursday from Jay Rockefeller and the Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, who have accused President George Bush and Company of deception regarding the intelligence in the run up to the Iraq war. In releasing his report, Rockefeller said, "In making the case for war, the administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when it was unsubstantiated, contradicted or even nonexistent." So Hiatt's first thoughts were that he someone had gotten the wrong report and he must have been reading the minority dissent because when he dove into Rockefeller's actual report, he found that the information on Iraq's nuclear weapons program, according to the Rockefeller report were, "generally substantiated by intelligence community estimates." In regards to the biological weapons, production capability and the mobile laboratories, Bush's claims were, "substantiated by intelligence information." Bush's assertions about chemical weapons were, "Substantiated by intelligence information."

On weapons of mass destruction overall (a separate section of the intelligence committee report)? "Generally substantiated by intelligence information." Delivery vehicles such as ballistic missiles? "Generally substantiated by available intelligence." Unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to deliver WMDs? "Generally substantiated by intelligence information."

As you read through the report, you begin to think maybe you've mistakenly picked up the minority dissent. But, no, this is the Rockefeller indictment. So, you think, the smoking gun must appear in the section on Bush's claims about Saddam Hussein's alleged ties to terrorism.

But statements regarding Iraq's support for terrorist groups other than al-Qaeda "were substantiated by intelligence information." Statements that Iraq provided safe haven for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other terrorists with ties to al-Qaeda "were substantiated by the intelligence assessments," and statements regarding Iraq's contacts with al-Qaeda "were substantiated by intelligence information." The report is left to complain about "implications" and statements that "left the impression" that those contacts led to substantive Iraqi cooperation.

Then Hiatt goes on to remind people of Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV's (D-W.Va.) words in 2002, where he said, "There has been some debate over how 'imminent' a threat Iraq poses. I do believe Iraq poses an imminent threat. I also believe after September 11, that question is increasingly outdated. . . . To insist on further evidence could put some of our fellow Americans at risk. Can we afford to take that chance? I do not think we can." Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.) along with three other Republican Senators filed a dissent from the minority, where they pointed out other Democratic politicians statements at the time, having read the same intelligence reports that Bush read. In their dissent they also assert that they were left out of the writing of this recently released report, but that they still "essentially validate what we have been saying all along: that policymakers' statements were substantiated by the intelligence." The Sun points out some other information that was released, showing a memo From January 2003, with some interesting statements about al-Qaeda, which stated, "We have hard evidence that al-Qaeda is operating in several locations in Iraq with the knowledge and acquiescence of Saddam's regime." Considering all that was listed as "substantiated by intelligence information", one has to wonder what is left that wasn't substantiated in Rockefeller's mind and with a little hunting I found it..

Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa’ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa’ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by the intelligence.

Statements by the President and the Vice President indicating that Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted by available intelligence information.

Statements by President Bush and Vice President Cheney regarding the postwar situation in Iraq, in terms of the political, security, and economic, did not reflect the concerns and uncertainties expressed in the intelligence products.

Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq’s chemical weapons production capability and activities did not reflect the intelligence community’s uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing.

The Secretary of Defense’s statement that the Iraqi government operated underground WMD facilities that were not vulnerable to conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply buried was not substantiated by available intelligence information.

The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President repeatedly claimed.

I also found Bond's dissent where they list key problems with the report, including:

The minority was entirely cut out of the process and that the report was written solely by Democratic staffers – For example, Republican amendments, including those of the Vice Chairman, were not even given a vote;

The Democratic staff who authored the report twisted policy makers’ statements and cherry picked intelligence in order to reach their misleading conclusions, often leaving out pertinent intelligence;

The report does not review any statements of Democrats, only Republican administration officials;

The Democratic staff did not seek to interview those whom they accuse;

The Rome report violates the Democrats’ own criteria for the Phase II report and should have been excluded.

Bond stressed that this type of partisan gamesmanship is beneath the Senate Intelligence Committee and takes away from the important national security issues the Committee should be focused on. Congress has failed to pass a terrorist surveillance bill, or intelligence authorization act, both of which are critical to improving the intelligence community. These failures are a result of injecting partisan politics into the Committee’s oversight responsibilities, emphasized Bond. With this final Phase II report now complete, Bond concluded that it is critical the Senate Intelligence attempts to move forward in a nonpartisan manner.

229 page PDF titled, "Prewar Intelligence Assessments About PostWar Iraq", can be found here. Both sides of the issue which shows that even years later, the two sides of the political spectrum can read the same information and still interpret it differently.