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

[truthynesslover]

Bush also tried to get the F.B.I.to falsly claim the anthrax attack was from al quada or the middle east!Can someone explain after we were attacked by al quada ,why would bush not be more worried about them?

[LarryMatt]

I went this morning to my local Barnes & Noble to pick this book up after hearing about it on NPR. It reads more like a great novel that places the actions of this administration into a world view that has gone seriously beyond the legal lines and involves some other actors that add flavor and depth to his characterizations.
His sources are all on the record. Please note that Tenet's statement says that "the White House never told him to fabricate this letter. He's right. The White House didn't because it can't talk... it's a building. Ask him under oath if any person involved with this administration gave him this assignment. He can't say no if he knows it means a prison sentence for him.
Habbash was paid $5 million in hush money. He is currently in Amman, Jordan and is being protected by the CIA even though he is "wanted" by the Iraqi government. Yea, right! No report has surfaced yet in the news media as to who gave the forged letter to the Daily Telegraph. It was none other than Ayad Alawi formerly PM of Iraq and a tool of the US government.
If Richer and Maguire support Suskind on these charges and we can reach Habbash in Jordan, Bush's goose is cooked and he will need to stay in China to advise them on surveillance.

[mymatrix]

Read Vincent Buliosi's new book. www.prosecutionofbush.com
He was on C-span book tv last weekend and he spoke of how complacent we have become and linked it to fear. He said journalists, talking heads, were afraid of their own shadows. He said that when Mario Cuomo said he admired Rush Limbaugh you knew how far the power of the Right wing had extended...that Mario felt compelled to kow-tow like that.
Let us all support Bugliosi in his prosecution endeavor and honoring justice. For the first time in his life he is being blacklisted. No one wants to book him where his previous bestsellers led to widespread bookings.

[jjc4progress]

WTF? Why isn't this the lead story on every news site?

[fishsandwichesr2good]

Perhaps we should place the "Tinfoil Hatted Crowd Declares Jesus Was an Atheist" headline at the top of the fold, too?

[mimsnpips]

It is on CNN situation room for whatever its worth.

[syllepsis]

One detail from yesterday's Politico article was that Suskind's research assistant was detained by the FBI with no explanation.
So that this is not dismissed as conspiracy-mongering: Jack Goldsmith said the same thing happened to him prior to his publishing "The Terror Presidency."
This is straight out of Kafka or Orwell.
That Bush has not been impeached given his conduct is a scandal of monstrous proportions in itself.
In fact one wonders if that's not the point...

[rjohns3]

My great grandmother (Bless her heart) would have taken 1 look at him a said he is not right in the head... his eyes are too close together for there to be enough brain to function right.

[drpieter]

typical repug... can't argue with the facts so you attack the author. Classy.

[WasteNJ]

I think rjohns3 was talking about Bush, no?

[easyrider1969]

I thought grandma was talking about W.

[truthynesslover]

Are you talking about bush?Hitchens said if bushes eyes were any closer hed be a cyclops!

[truthynesslover]

If bushes eyes were any closer together hed be a cyclops!What would she have said about his intellectual prowess?

[Konamakai]

At least so many of you care. I just don't encounter people like you very often. Whenever I do try to tell others about things like this they just don't care. And they look at me as if I'm from another planet. I never realized just what an ignorant uncaring country that I live in. That is why I am so down all the time. At least so many of you care enough to read the article and post a comment. If Obama doesn't win the White House then I don't think there is going to be any hope left for us. I have never in my lifetime had so much fear for all of us.

[garymc8]

Bush was right when he talked about family values in his campaigns. But like all republican statements they lop off the last phrase. The family he was refering to is a CRIME FAMILY. The Bush Crime Family.
GOP=Steal from me.

[free2bee]

What the hell is going on here?? Double standards, people above the law ,a media that won't tell the truth, ,the rich getting richer while the poor is getting poorer, ignoring reports of climate change, and the list goes on.
I have never met so many depressed people in my 90 years on this Earth. What happened to those years when we had some semblence of confidence and a look to a fruitful future? Of course new generations accept what is theirs since they haven't experienced any other.
Whatever your beliefs are, how could you not find this administration incompetent and ignoring the rule of law?

[tiffj01]

This is off-topic, but are you really 90 years old?

[nezumi]

Looks like he is, saw his profile. Franklin D. Roosevelt? You gottabe kiddin'

[donttasemebro]

We're all singing the "GOP ruined our nation" blues. We don't dare to hope for anything better, lest our spirits be cruelly and brutally crushed again like they were in 2004. It's a simple matter of self preservation. If O wins though, we'll soon be dancing to a different tune. Until then, :-(

[OrganOfThought]

Yes, 2004 was very demoralizing. It almost crushed my spirits. Even if there was some electronic cheating with the voting machines, almost 50 million people voted for that scum. Does it really mean that those people don't care about death and destruction by big oil and the military industrial complex as long as their lives are comfortable?

If Obama wins, it may renew my faith in humanity. But at this point, if it is even close, I may be disappointed. I hope he wins by a big margin and helps kick many more repub criminals out of the House and Senate.

[jnratliff]

I can tell you what happened. Saddams man that was telling the pres that saddam didn't have any weapons last name was bush and even a bush knows you cannot believe a bush!
They are all liars. Bush = liar just the same as republican = insanity!

[truthbrigade]

May the force be always with you Mr. free2bee. You belong to an America that does not exist anymore; you and I have seen the best and worst of the US (this is the worst).

[hootie1fan]

Tell us something we don't already know

[antiparanoid]

That's what we get for pledging allegiance to the flag of The British East India Trading Company.

[Garvagh]

The Iraqi foreign minister had confirmed, before the invasion, that Iraq had no WMD. The Bush administration feared that delaying the invasion would given the UN weapons inspectors too much time to show the world there was no reason to invade. Dick Cheney knew the CIA had confirmed through close relatives of Iraqi scientists connected to the Iraqi military that Saddam Hussein had ordered the destruction of his nuclear weapons development program in the fall of 1991, and that this order had been carried out.

[Farrapo]

Yet another impeachable offense by the most dishonest and corrupt administration in U.S. history. Bush and Cheney must be brought to justice.

[Chris]

Don't you need proof to impeach beyond a book? Iw ould love to impeach a cirminal president. But proof is needed to do this. Not accusation by an author.

[nogimmicks]

Why do we always see just Bush's face under those titles??? It is such a 'visual misrepresentation' of the truth. Whoever does it at HuffPo should make a montage of the mug-shots of key executives and theorists responsible for the action (in this case: at least Cheney, Wolfowitz, Feith, Tenet, Perle, Kristol ).

When we see only Bush, it creates a false sense of comfort. We think .. "He will be gone soon and the whole nightmare will be over", .. and open New York Times to read Kristol's column on what to do next.

[robertlockwoodmills]

Tenet's defense to Suskind's charges amounts to the following:

"We tried to get people in the administration to stop. We resisted efforts to tie Saddam Hussein to al Qaeda. We didn't succeed. Now Suskind is blaming us for the stuff we fought against. That's unfair!"