17.6.03
Iraq WMD coverup roundup: Levin, Cook accuse governments of witholding information
US Senator Carl Levin has accused the CIA of "discrepancies" between director Tenet's public statements on Iraqi WMD and classified information provided to UN officials.
Meanwhile, in jolly old England, Robin Cook has accused UK ministers of "not presenting the whole picture" prior to the war against Iraq. Cook was speaking at the opening session of a House of Commons inquiry.
US Senator Carl Levin has accused the CIA of "discrepancies" between director Tenet's public statements on Iraqi WMD and classified information provided to UN officials.
"Why did the CIA say that they had provided detailed information to the UN inspectors on all of the high and medium suspect sites with the UN, when they had not? Did the CIA act in this way in order not to undermine (the US president George W. Bush) administration policy? Was there another explanation for this?Carl, good luck with your muckracking - or "historical revisionism", as Bush and Rice like to call it. And don't get on any private planes any time soon - especially not with Henry Waxman.
"Seeking those answers is important, and is one of the many reasons why there needs to be a bipartisan inquiry into the objectivity and credibility of US intelligence before the war and the use of such intelligence."
Meanwhile, in jolly old England, Robin Cook has accused UK ministers of "not presenting the whole picture" prior to the war against Iraq. Cook was speaking at the opening session of a House of Commons inquiry.
Mr Cook, an ex-foreign secretary, told the MPs he had "no doubt about the good faith of the prime minister", but said the "burning sincerity and conviction of those involved in exercise" was a "problem".Those true-believers, who think they know what's best for everyone, can really be hard-headed sometimes. The British are also having trouble getting an impartial inquiry together:
This conviction had led to intelligence material being carefully selected to back up their case for war - rather than being used as a basis for assessing whether or not Saddam posed a threat, he said.
A separate inquiry by Parliament's intelligence and security committee, which meets in private, is also going to look at Iraq's WMD.Do they have "historical revisionism" in Britain? Cook, being British, might want to avoid riding trains until this whole affair is sorted out - especially with MP George Galloway.
...
Mr Anderson [the Foreign Affairs committee chair] has already suggested the intelligence committee's findings would have a "credibility problem" because of its closeness to Mr Blair.
