Chalabi

Page 108

By Matthew Yglesias | bio

At AEI today, Ahmed Chalabi naturally took some questions about the bogus intelligence question. He replied, to the geneal applause of the non-media folks in the room, that we should check out "the reports" on the matter conducted by the Robb-Silberman Commission and the Senate Intelligence Committee. Specifically, he suggested that page 108 of the Robb-Silberman report exonerated him. In fact, page 108 of the report states:

In fact, over all, CIA's post-war investigations revealed that INC-related sources had a minimal impact on pre-war assessments. 405 The October 2002 NIE relied on reporting from two INC sources, both of whom were later deemed to be fabricators. One source-- the INC source --provided fabricated reporting on the existence of mobile BW facilities in Iraq. The other source, whose information was provided in a text box in the NIE and sourced to a "defector," reported on the possible construction of a new nuclear facility in Iraq. The CIA concluded that this source was being "directed" by the INC to provide information to the U.S. Intelligence Community. 406 Reporting from these two INC sources had a "negligible" impact on the overall assessments, however. 407

Another serious flaw affecting the Intelligence Community's pre-war assessments was its inability to keep reporting from a known fabricator out of finished intelligence. Specifically, the INC source, handled by DIA's Defense HUMINT Service, provided information on Iraqi mobile BW facilities that was initially thought to corroborate Curveball's reporting. The INC source was quickly deemed a fabricator in May 2002, however, and Defense HUMINT issued a fabrication notice but did not recall the reporting on mobile BW facilities in Iraq. Despite the fabrication notice, reporting from the INC source regarding Iraqi mobile BW facilities started to be used again several months later in finished intelligence--eventually ending up in the October 2002 NIE and in Secretary Powell's February 2003 speech to the United Nations Security Council. 408

That's a very strange concept of exoneration Chalabi seems to be working with. Page 108 states that the INC provided information to the Intelligence Community that was inaccurate. It states that the INC sources were deliberately fabricating their reports. And it states that the sources were being "directed" to do so by the INC.


Nov 09, 2005 -- 04:57:11 PM EST