- vox populi ©

July 8, 2003
Bush Claim on Iraq was Fabrication, White House Says
By DAVID E. SANGER


WASHINGTON, July 7 NYT- The White House acknowledged for the first time
today that President Bush was relying on incomplete and inaccurate
information from American intelligence agencies when he declared, in his
State of the Union speech, that Saddam Hussein had tried to purchase uranium
from Africa.

The White House statement appeared to undercut one of the key pieces of
evidence that President Bush and his aides had cited to back their claims
made prior to launching an attack against Iraq in March that Mr. Hussein was
"reconstituting" his nuclear weapons program. Those claims added urgency to
the White House case that military action to depose Mr. Hussein needed to be
taken quickly, and could not await further inspections of the country or
additional resolutions at the United Nations.

The acknowledgment came after a day of questions - and sometimes
contradictory answers from White House officials - about an article
published on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times on Sunday by Joseph C.
Wilson 4th, a former ambassador who was sent to Niger, in West Africa, last
year to investigate reports of the attempted purchase. He reported back that
the intelligence was likely fraudulent, a warning that White House officials
say never reached them.

Asked about the statement early today, before President Bush departed for a
six-day tour of Africa, Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said,
"There is zero, nada, nothing new here." He said that "we've long
acknowledged" that information on the attempted purchases from Niger "did,
indeed, turn out to be incorrect."

But in public, administration officials have defended the president's
statement in the State of Union address that "the British government has
learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of
uranium from Africa."

While Mr. Bush quoted the British report, his statement was apparently
primarily based on American intelligence - a classified "National
Intelligence Estimate" published in October of last year that also
identified two other countries, the Congo and Somalia, where Iraq had sought
the material, in addition to Niger. But many analysts did not believe those
reports at the time, and were shocked to hear the president make such a
flat, declarative statement.

Asked about the accuracy of the president's statement this morning, Mr.
Fleischer said, "We see nothing that would dissuade us from the president's
broader statement." But when pressed, he said he would clarify the issue
later today.

Tonight, after Air Force One had departed, White House officials issued a
statement in Mr. Fleischer's name that made clear that they no longer stood
behind Mr. Bush's statement.

"There is other reporting to suggest that Iraq tried to obtain uranium from
Africa," the statement said. "However, the information is not detailed or
specific enough for us to be certain that attempts were in fact made."

In other words, said one senior official, "we couldn't prove it, and it
might in fact be wrong."

How Mr. Bush's statement made it into last January's State of the Union
address is still unclear. No one involved in drafting the speech will say
who put the phrase in, or whether it was drawn from the classified
intelligence estimate. That document contained a footnote - in a separate
section of the report, on another subject - noting that State Department
experts were doubtful of the claims that Mr. Hussein had sought uranium.

If the intelligence was true, it would have buttressed statements by Mr.
Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney that Saddam Hussein was actively seeking
a nuclear weapon, and could build one in a year or less if he obtained
enough nuclear material.

In early March, before the invasion of Iraq began, the International Atomic
Energy Agency dismissed the uranium reports about Niger, noting that they
were based on forged documents. In an interview late last month, a senior
administration official said that the news of the fraud was not brought to
the attention of the White House until after Mr. Bush had spoken.

- vox populi ©

July 8, 2003
Bush Claim on Iraq was Fabrication, White House Says
By DAVID E. SANGER


WASHINGTON, July 7 NYT- The White House acknowledged for the first time
today that President Bush was relying on incomplete and inaccurate
information from American intelligence agencies when he declared, in his
State of the Union speech, that Saddam Hussein had tried to purchase uranium
from Africa.

The White House statement appeared to undercut one of the key pieces of
evidence that President Bush and his aides had cited to back their claims
made prior to launching an attack against Iraq in March that Mr. Hussein was
"reconstituting" his nuclear weapons program. Those claims added urgency to
the White House case that military action to depose Mr. Hussein needed to be
taken quickly, and could not await further inspections of the country or
additional resolutions at the United Nations.

The acknowledgment came after a day of questions - and sometimes
contradictory answers from White House officials - about an article
published on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times on Sunday by Joseph C.
Wilson 4th, a former ambassador who was sent to Niger, in West Africa, last
year to investigate reports of the attempted purchase. He reported back that
the intelligence was likely fraudulent, a warning that White House officials
say never reached them.

Asked about the statement early today, before President Bush departed for a
six-day tour of Africa, Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said,
"There is zero, nada, nothing new here." He said that "we've long
acknowledged" that information on the attempted purchases from Niger "did,
indeed, turn out to be incorrect."

But in public, administration officials have defended the president's
statement in the State of Union address that "the British government has
learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of
uranium from Africa."

While Mr. Bush quoted the British report, his statement was apparently
primarily based on American intelligence - a classified "National
Intelligence Estimate" published in October of last year that also
identified two other countries, the Congo and Somalia, where Iraq had sought
the material, in addition to Niger. But many analysts did not believe those
reports at the time, and were shocked to hear the president make such a
flat, declarative statement.

Asked about the accuracy of the president's statement this morning, Mr.
Fleischer said, "We see nothing that would dissuade us from the president's
broader statement." But when pressed, he said he would clarify the issue
later today.

Tonight, after Air Force One had departed, White House officials issued a
statement in Mr. Fleischer's name that made clear that they no longer stood
behind Mr. Bush's statement.

"There is other reporting to suggest that Iraq tried to obtain uranium from
Africa," the statement said. "However, the information is not detailed or
specific enough for us to be certain that attempts were in fact made."

In other words, said one senior official, "we couldn't prove it, and it
might in fact be wrong."

How Mr. Bush's statement made it into last January's State of the Union
address is still unclear. No one involved in drafting the speech will say
who put the phrase in, or whether it was drawn from the classified
intelligence estimate. That document contained a footnote - in a separate
section of the report, on another subject - noting that State Department
experts were doubtful of the claims that Mr. Hussein had sought uranium.

If the intelligence was true, it would have buttressed statements by Mr.
Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney that Saddam Hussein was actively seeking
a nuclear weapon, and could build one in a year or less if he obtained
enough nuclear material.

In early March, before the invasion of Iraq began, the International Atomic
Energy Agency dismissed the uranium reports about Niger, noting that they
were based on forged documents. In an interview late last month, a senior
administration official said that the news of the fraud was not brought to
the attention of the White House until after Mr. Bush had spoken.