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Congress debates US intelligence on Iraq weapons
Washington, June 15: Lawmakers today wrestled with the awkward failure of US-led forces to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, as Congress began reviewing the intelligence used to justify the war that ousted Saddam Hussein.
Washington, June 15: Lawmakers today wrestled with the awkward failure of US-led forces to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, as Congress began reviewing the intelligence used to justify the war that ousted Saddam Hussein.
Leading members of Congress told talk shows that they had received voluminous classified materials from US intelligence agencies, which will be reviewed behind closed doors.
"If these weapons are never discovered, it will raise enormous questions about how we put together and act on the intelligence we gather in this country," said Representative Jane Harman, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. "And that will make it much harder going forward for this administration or any other administration to claim we should preempt action by some head of a country based on our intelligence," she said on a television talk show.
Democrats have pushed for a formal investigation into the intelligence that led the US to invade Iraq, but President George W. Bush's Republican Party has proceedings that would include public hearings. Senator Pat Roberts, who heads the Select Committee on Intelligence, said he still believes that Saddam had banned weapons.
"The real bottom line is what has happened to them, from the standpoint of national security," he told a television network.
In an opinion piece in published in a top American newspaper, Senator John McCain said he was also surprised that US-led forces had not yet uncovered an chemical or nuclear weapons in Iraq. Bureau Report
"If these weapons are never discovered, it will raise enormous questions about how we put together and act on the intelligence we gather in this country," said Representative Jane Harman, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. "And that will make it much harder going forward for this administration or any other administration to claim we should preempt action by some head of a country based on our intelligence," she said on a television talk show.
Democrats have pushed for a formal investigation into the intelligence that led the US to invade Iraq, but President George W. Bush's Republican Party has proceedings that would include public hearings. Senator Pat Roberts, who heads the Select Committee on Intelligence, said he still believes that Saddam had banned weapons.
"The real bottom line is what has happened to them, from the standpoint of national security," he told a television network.
In an opinion piece in published in a top American newspaper, Senator John McCain said he was also surprised that US-led forces had not yet uncovered an chemical or nuclear weapons in Iraq. Bureau Report