:: "Pentagon unit developed "dubious" prewar intel: report" ::
Reuters
By JoAnne AllenWASHINGTON - Former U.S. defense policy chief Douglas Feith developed and issued "dubious" intelligence that was used to bolster the Bush administration's case for the invasion of Iraq, a Pentagon watchdog agency said in a report to be released on Friday.
The conclusion by Feith's office that there was a "mature symbiotic relationship" between Iraq and al Qaeda was inconsistent with the view of the U.S. intelligence community, according to excerpts of the Pentagon inspector general's report released by Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"An alternative intelligence assessment process was established in the office of Under Secretary for Policy Doug Feith ... that was predisposed to finding a significant relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda. His staff then conducted its own review of raw intelligence reports, including reporting of dubious quality and reliability," the report said.
"They arrived at an 'alternative' interpretation of the Iraq-al Qaeda relationship that was much stronger than that assessed by the IC (intelligence community) and more in accord with the policy views of senior officials in the administration," the report concluded.
An unclassified summary of the report is to be published on Friday, when Levin's committee is briefed on its findings.
Top Bush administration officials cited alleged ties between Iraq and al Qaeda as a justification for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The bipartisan commission which investigated the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 later reported that no collaborative relationship existed between the two.
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posted by me
:: 10:52:00 AM [+] ::
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