WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
30 January 2004

In a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Sen. Levin cited Donald Rumsfeld as saying on 11 March 2003, one week before the war: "we know he continues to hide biological and chemical weapons, moving them to different locations as often as every 12 to 24 hours, and placing them in residential neighborhoods." The issue is how statements of such certainty had been made when new revelations indicate there was no reliable intelligence on which to base irrefutable affirmations of WMD in Iraq.

Former Chief Weapons Inspector Kay has launched the new wave of speculation about how intelligence was allegedly botched, but it is the words of top officials that are fueling the fire. No one has yet offered an explanation for how such specific claims could have been derived from such vague threat estimates, even later estimates which showed increased urgency.

The New York Times reported today that even the White House has begun to distance itself from the Vice President's continued assertions that his assessments were accurate and that mobile weapons labs have already been found. This information has already been contradicted by testimony by weapons inspectors, and David Kay told the Senate that "we were almost all wrong."

The BBC World Service noted "a stockpile of questions" now emerging as interested parties scramble to find their footing and allocate blame at a safe distance from themselves. The CIA refers to its record of using caveats and caution regarding what it considered sketchy intelligence about Iraq. The Vice President appears to have taken the position that the administration's Iraq policy was entirely justified and will be vindicated, while allies seek to fix blame on DCI George Tenet. The White House cites David Kay's assertion that the blame lies wholly with the Intelligence Community, and suggests that its fellow Republican Committee Chairs in Congress are perfectly capable of executing any needed inquiry.

Democrats are calling for an independent inquiry, its own reference to Kay's testimony, and some have urged the inquiry begin immediately and release its report when ready, regardless of the election. Democratic leaders, however, have been cautious to allow that such an inquiry issue its report after the November election, partly to avoid the appearance of hollow politicking, partly because they are currently supporting an extension of the 9/11 inquiry, on grounds that time and patience yields a better product.

Senator Pat Roberts, Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said flatly, "If your intelligence is wrong you're in a world of trouble." (NYT) It would appear that at present, no particular entity has control of "the tone" in Washington, that popular categorization of rhetorical trends. It's increasingly a matter of words and assertions, with all sides maneuvering to gain the strategic initiative in discovering the apt political solution. [s]

• Iraq War Assessment by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• Human Rights Watch: World Report 2004
• NO WMD, JUSTIFICATIONS FOR WAR IN QUESTION
  26 January 2004

REUTERS REPORTS 3 JOURNALISTS AMONG ABUSED IRAQIS
18 May 2004

The Reuters News Agency is reporting that 3 Iraqi journalists working for the agency were beaten and sexually abused when they were detained in January, while covering the story of a downed helicopter. The abuses occurred not at Abu Ghraib prison, but at the Volturno Forward Operating Base, near Fallujah. Reuters latest publication of the story is due to the fact that the Pentagon has not responded to requests for a review of an initial military report that found no torture had occurred (issued long before the Abu Ghraib photos had become public). [Full Story]

GENERAL KARPINSKI ALLEGES TORTURE ORDERED FROM TOP
15 June 2004

Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski has told the press that she is being made a "convenient scapegoat" by compromised authorities. She alleged specifically that she was told, while in command at Abu Ghraib, that all prisoners should be treated like dogs. She says that Maj Gen Geoffrey Miller, now in charge of Iraqi prisons, then in charge of the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, told her that any hint that detainees were anything more than dogs would lead to breakdown of her authority. [Full Story]