CIA leak illustrates selective use of intelligence on Iraq
The grand jury probe into the leak of a covert CIA officer’s name has opened a new window into how the Bush administration used intelligence from dubious sources to make a case for a pre-emptive war and discarded information that undercut its rationale for attacking Iraq.
CIA officer Valerie Plame was outed in an apparent attempt to discredit her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, after he challenged President Bush’s allegation in his 2003 State of the Union speech that Iraq had tried to buy uranium for nuclear weapons from the African nation of Niger.
A Knight Ridder review of the administration’s arguments, its own reporting at the time and the Senate Intelligence Committee’s 2004 report shows that the White House followed a pattern of using questionable intelligence, even documents that turned out to be forgeries, to support its case – often leaking classified information to receptive journalists – and dismissing information that undermined the case for war.
KRT Wire | 10/25/2005 | CIA leak illustrates selective use of intelligence on Iraq