- News>
US senator wants CIA to release data about alleged Iraq WMDs
Washington, June 17: A senior democratic senator has accused CIA director George Tenet of discrepancies between his public statements on Iraq`s suspected arsenal of banned weapons and classified information provided by his agency to UN officials.
Washington, June 17: A senior democratic senator has accused CIA director George Tenet of discrepancies between his public statements on Iraq's suspected arsenal of banned weapons and classified information provided by his agency to UN officials.
Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, top democrat on the
Senate Armed Services Committee, said yesterday the Central
Intelligence Agency failed to provide a complete list of
suspected Iraqi weapons sites to UN weapons inspectors,
although Tenet made public statements saying it had.
He called on tenet to provide a complete accounting of the information given to UN weapons inspectors for public scrutiny.
"This goes to the question as to whether or not the statements that are made by the Central Intelligence Agency are factually accurate, when they make public statements that are important," said Levin, who also serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"Why did the CIA say that they had provided detailed information to the UN inspectors on all of the high and medium suspect sites with the UN, when they had not? Did the CIA act in this way in order not to undermine (the US President George W Bush) administration policy? Was there another explanation for this?
"Seeking those answers is important, and is one of the many reasons why there needs to be a bipartisan inquiry into the objectivity and credibility of us intelligence before the war and the use of such intelligence."
Bureau Report
He called on tenet to provide a complete accounting of the information given to UN weapons inspectors for public scrutiny.
"This goes to the question as to whether or not the statements that are made by the Central Intelligence Agency are factually accurate, when they make public statements that are important," said Levin, who also serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"Why did the CIA say that they had provided detailed information to the UN inspectors on all of the high and medium suspect sites with the UN, when they had not? Did the CIA act in this way in order not to undermine (the US President George W Bush) administration policy? Was there another explanation for this?
"Seeking those answers is important, and is one of the many reasons why there needs to be a bipartisan inquiry into the objectivity and credibility of us intelligence before the war and the use of such intelligence."
Bureau Report