CIA Forged Iraq Intelligence, New Book Says

Ron Suskind, author of "The Price of Loyalty" and "The One Percent Doctrine," is out with a new book that includes CIA forgery of pre-war intelligence, the Politico reports:

A new book by the author Ron Suskind claims that the White House ordered the CIA to forge a back-dated, handwritten letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein.

Suskind writes in "The Way of the World," to be published Tuesday, that the alleged forgery - adamantly denied by the White House - was designed to portray a false link between Hussein's regime and al Qaeda as a justification for the Iraq war.

The author also claims that the Bush administration had information from a top Iraqi intelligence official "that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq - intelligence they received in plenty of time to stop an invasion."

George Tenet, director of the CIA at the time, responds:

There was no such order from the White House to me nor, to the best of my knowledge, was anyone from CIA ever involved in any such effort.

It is well established that, at my direction, CIA resisted efforts on the part of some in the Administration to paint a picture of Iraqi-Al Qa'ida connections that went beyond the evidence. The notion that I would suddenly reverse our stance and have created and planted false evidence that was contrary to our own beliefs is ridiculous.

There are undoubtedly many other errors in the book - but these are the first ones of which I've been made aware. One would think a serious journalist would have, at a minimum, asked the supposed participants if what he was prepared to write was consistent with the facts. Mr. Suskind never contacted me on anything regarding this book. I suppose he had a story that fell into the category of: "too good to check."

Asked about Tenet's reaction on NBC's "Today," Suskind said it's "part of George's memory issue." Watch:

The White House issued its own denial: deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said, "The notion that the White House directed anyone to forge a letter from Habbush to Saddam Hussein is absurd."

Suskind responded that the White House "is all but obligated to deny this."

"If they go in the other direction, I think they're probably going to have to start firing people," he told the AP.

Comments

[toppermost]

"The notion that the White House directed anyone to forge a letter from Habbush to Saddam Hussein is absurd."...

Is it???? Really? LOL

[valleygent]

Wow...George Bush is a crook? That's not news that's just oversight FAILURE.

[ElkoJohn]

`
''Impeachment is off the table . . . House Speaker Miss Nancy
`

[democratsaint]

that always been the democrats problem.they could have impeached reagan but not removed him and they didnt want a fight in congress over it. the republican didnt care. they spent 6 years knowing they had no chance to remove clinton they didnt even get 50% on any charge in the senate. but they didnt care they wanted to drag him through the mud and the country too.

when you get down to it the republicans are al talk about national security and the country.

fisa- the democrats proposed a bill that had all bush wanted except telecom protections.they were against it siting national security. so in essence they were saying telecom profits were more important than national security.

haliburton- over charged,thatmoeny came out of fund for our troops.so again corporate profits were more important than our troops.

by the way listen to republicans on voting.they are against women voting, want a 'test' to see if you can vote.when you get down to it they think only those who think like them should vote,ie they want a dictatorship,with 20-30 % of the population deciding what is 'best' for the rest.
you even hear some think you should get votes based on income.so a kid going ot iraq for our country might get a vote some ceo of a company making defective equipment would get votes

[dglow]

I sent emails to John Conyers (my congressman) and Nancy Pelosi demanding that they fast track impeachment. Suskind has the taped statements of 2 CIA agents who admitted involvement in forging the letter connecting Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda as a pretext to invade Iraq. That is concrete evidence that can't be denied. Conspiracy to lie our country into an illegal war is a high crime and misdemeanor.
Flood the members of the House Judiciary Committee with similar emails and maybe they'll have to pull their heads out of the sand.

[TAC]

Nice pic of the Resident up there. Was that snapped just before he went for the pretzel?

[ripples]

doubt that much will come of this - congress is off until after labor day, the conventions begin soon, the olympics are about to begin, and many americans will be on vacation...after labor day all attention will be on the election...sad but too many of us just don't give a damn about anything iraq...bush got away with this lie and he will be long gone before the whole sorry mess gets serious attention from the historians

[Whinger]

That's it George, any which way you can!

It's only a godammed piece of paper!

[Schaden]

This story was on drudge for less than 12 hours before it was yanked. All they've got now is the White House's rebuttal without the original politico story. Got to love the "liberal media" bias.

[blico]

I found it on Drudge this AM. Maybe your browser got stuck on the Hilton pic.

[liarsliar]

The only punishment the Bush Administration will receive will be being kicked out of Iraq. It looks as if the Bushies are going to be "screwed" out of the spoils of the war (the oil and military bases that they wanted!"

If so, Cheney and Bush failed to achieve their foremost objective!

[catzoned]

Good point but not exactly the big picture if you think about it. Buch and Co. did get big oil and Halliburton profits for many of their "friends". Please do keep posting!

[JDHART]

Worst. President. Ever.

Can we impeach him now?

[schoolmaster]

If it is true, it is a serious crime that resulted in innumerable deaths, dismemberments and displacements, way above 9/11 calamity. If the government , meaning al the three wings do not fix the responsibily, it will be a blight in the annals of history, and our country would be considered to have lost the moral authority.

[soljifire]

tiem to put bush in jail

[realpolitic]

Skip the impeachment. Let's go right to the criminal trial.

[Bpeirce]

I'd like to know what the Democrats are going to do about this. Probably sit on it like every other issue dealing with Republican lies and the trampling of our Constitution

[MajorKong]

I'm sure they're drafting a sternly worded letter as we speak. Sigh.

[blueskybigstar]

There is so much outrage, but not a one post about going to D.C. and making your presence heard. How is change supposed to happen when nobody is willing to take the time or the money to get there and show Nancy what the people support. It is sad that we have to do something like this in the face of overwhelming evidence.

[JRandomPoster]

Sometimes, I think that the net is as much of a curse to politics as a blessing.

It allows a lot more people to be involved, to be heard. And for those who look, there is a lot of good solid information out there.

But it also acts as a pressure valve, allowing folks to vent before they get angry enough to do something.

[catzoned]

I like your perspective. It is a good one. Media is vastly different these day. And I swear the means by which your brain receives information is different as well. How one responds to verbal information seems to be different than that which obtained from reading it. Any thoughts about this theory?

[Canuckski]

G.W. Bush should be impeached for this.
Most of this is already public information. Valerie Plame, in her book on her career and "outing" writes at some length about the new division of the CIA created to fake intelligence to meet the political needs of the Administration. I believe that George Tenet, when head of the CIA was either being fooled by his senior staff or was paid off by the White House. I prefer to believe the former.