New York Times Drops The Bombshell

To Justify War,

Administration Pushed

Claims By Known

“Fabricator”

During Wednesday’s gaggle, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan explained why there is no need to investigate the manipulation of intelligence prior to the Iraq war:

[T]hey wanted to look at how the intelligence was used. The intelligence — how the intelligence was used was all part of the public record.

Actually, that’s not true. Editor and Publisher previews an article that will appear in tomorrow’s New York Times based on a newly declassified memo:

It shows that an al-Qaeda official in American custody was identified as a likely fabricator months before the Bush administration began to use his statements as the foundation for its claims that Iraq trained al-Qaeda members to use biological and chemical weapons, according to this Defense Intelligence Agency document from February 2002…

“The document provides the earliest and strongest indication of doubts voiced by American intelligence agencies about Mr. Libi’s credibility,” Jehl writes. “Without mentioning him by name, President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Colin L. Powell, then secretary of state, and other administration officials repeatedly cited Mr. Libi’s information as ‘credible’ evidence that Iraq was training Al Qaeda members in the use of explosives and illicit weapons.”

Are there other memos floating around that will reveal more about how intelligence was used and abused to justify the Iraq war? That’s why we need a real investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

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