White House releases new Iraq nuclear intelligence

CRAWFORD, Texas - In an attempt to prove President George W Bush was not misleading Americans about reasons for the Iraq war, the White House today released declassified intelligence that said there was "compelling evidence" Iraq sought uranium for nuclear weapons.

After more than a week of withering attacks from Democrats, the White House put forth a vigorous defence of why Bush used the disputed allegation in his State of the Union speech last January that Iraq sought uranium from Africa for nuclear weapons.

Portions of the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, a US intelligence summary based on the work of six agencies, were released to explain the depth of information on Saddam Hussein's alleged programmes to develop nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

The summary said that "most agencies believe that Saddam's personal interest in and Iraq's aggressive attempts" to obtain nuclear weapons materials "provide compelling evidence that Saddam is reconstituting a uranium enrichment effort for Baghdad's nuclear weapons programme."

The declassified summary, however, included cautionary footnotes from the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) about how compelling the case really was.

This agency said in an "alternative view" annex on page 84 of the 90-page summary that "the claims of Iraqi pursuit of natural uranium in Africa are, in INR's assessment, highly dubious."

Bush never saw this footnote but would not be expected to, a senior administration official said, since he was leaving it to his team to draft his speech and check the facts in it.

"We have experts who work for the national security adviser who know this information, who understand this information. He relies upon his administration, the CIA themselves as well to give their best judgments," the official said.

Asked if Bush was comfortable making assertions the State Department thinks are highly dubious, the official said: "The president was comfortable at the time based on the information that was provided in the NIE. The president of the United States is not a fact-checker."

The chaotic aftermath to the Iraq war appears to be taking a toll on Bush's job approval ratings. A new Zogby America poll said Bush's job approval had slipped to 53 per cent, the lowest since before September 11, 2001. Other recent polls have given Bush ratings closer to 60 per cent.

The White House decided to cite the British government as the source for the African uranium claim because the CIA told the National Security Council that US intelligence was not strong enough on this point.

The senior official said the White House wanted to attribute the information in order to give it more credibility. Speechwriters drafted the speech with various allegations about Saddam's attempts to gain weapons of mass destruction, but wanted to source it in order to strengthen the case.

"This was the day before the speech. We decided that it would be much more credible if we could explain to the public how we knew it ... to fully disclose as much as possible how we knew this information," the official said.

US officials have said National Security Council weapons expert Bob Joseph discussed the uranium line with CIA nonproliferation expert Alan Foley.

The senior administration official said Joseph asked Foley if it was OK to use the line and cite the British as the source since US intelligence was not strong enough.

"My understanding is that it was approved by the CIA," the official said.

CIA Director George Tenet has taken responsibility for the fact that the unsubstantiated claim ended up in the speech.

Democrats are calling for an investigation into whether Bush used faulty intelligence to mislead Americans in order to justify war against Iraq.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq