BY ROHAN PEARCE

On June 18, the intelligence committees of the US Senate and Congress began hearings on the “intelligence” that the White House used to justify the invasion of Iraq, in particular, the claims made about Iraq's alleged biological and chemical weapons and nuclear weapons program.

Washington has alternated between making public assurances that weapons of mass destruction will be found, and statements that there may have been “intelligence failures”.

A June 19 Washington Post article quoted deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz saying: “If there is a problem with intelligence … it doesn't mean that anybody misled anybody. It means intelligence is an art and not a science.”

The Washington Post reported that “the intelligence assessments reflected a broad consensus of the intelligence community”. However, a “senior CIA analyst”, quoted in a June 12 Washington Post report, had claimed: “Information not consistent with the administration agenda was discarded and information that was [consistent] was not seriously scrutinized.”

In late May, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, a group consisting of former US intelligence analysts, issued a memorandum addressed to the US president which expressed “deep concern” over “the growing mistrust and cynicism with which many … regard the intelligence cited by you and your chief advisers to justify the war against Iraq”.

Despite its crumbling credibility, the White House's misinformation campaign has had the desired effect. On June 4, the Program on International Policy Attitudes released survey results that indicated 34% of US people believed that Iraqi WMDs had been found, and 7% were unsure whether this was the case.

A majority of those who supported the invasion because it was the “right decision” believed that WMDs had been uncovered. An even larger percentage of Republicans who said they “followed international affairs very closely” believed that this was the case.

Twenty-two per cent believed that Iraq employed chemical or biological weapons during the US-led invasion. Nine per cent weren't sure.

From Green Left Weekly, June 25, 2003.
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