IRAQ: As the Bush administration was pushing last autumn for a war against Iraq because of alleged weapons of mass destruction, a US Defence Department report said it did not have enough "reliable information" that Iraq was amassing these weapons, a defence official said yesterday.
News of the classified September 2002 report by the Defence Intelligence Agency has added to claims the White House and Pentagon slanted US intelligence on Baghdad's alleged weapons programme to justify the war against Iraq.
"What this report is saying is that there's not enough reliable information to move things into the category of things we know (about WMDs in Iraq)," a defence official said of the report, a summary of which was leaked to US media this week.
However, he said the 80-plus page report said intelligence indicated Iraq probably did have chemical and other weapons but that there was just not enough reliable intelligence to fully back up this claim.
"What's been reported is accurate but you have to take it in context of the entire report, which is classified," said the official, who asked not to be named. "The way it's briefed is in the category of 'hey, we think this is going on'."
Around the time of the report, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld went to Congress to press his case that Iraq was stockpiling chemical and biological weapons. No such weapons have been found since Saddam Hussein was ousted in April but President Bush has said repeatedly he believes US forces will find them.
Last week the CIA Director, Mr George Tenet, defended his agency's intelligence on Iraqi chemical and biological weapons, saying the "integrity of our process was maintained throughout". Media reports had said CIA analysts had complained of pressure from the administration about their findings on Iraqi weapons.
The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has come under similar criticism and on Wednesday he announced a British parliamentary inquiry. - (Reuters)