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Expert Says He Was Pressured
To Distort Iraqi WMD Intel
6-25-03
| (AFP) -- A top State Department expert on chemical and biological
weapons told congressional investigators he had been pressured to change
his analysis of intelligence on Iraq and other issues, the New York Times
reported, citing unnamed congressional officials. The expert, identified by the daily as Christian Westermann, reportedly told the House of Representatives Intelligence committee during private hearings last week that he had felt pressure from the administration of President George W. Bush to tailor his analyses to the administration's positions. The committee was examining the administration's handling of reports that Iraq possessed banned weapons and supported terrorist groups. Westermann, an analyst in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, told lawmakers he never actually changed the wording of any of his intelligence reports, the officials told the Times. Westermann also specifically complained about being pressured on issues related to intelligence on Cuba, they said. Westermann would not comment when contacted by the Times. The Bush administration has come under fire because little evidence has emerged to support its justification for war -- that Iraq had biological and chemical weapons, was developing nuclear weapons and sheltered terrorist groups. On Tuesday, the committee's chairman gave a vote of confidence to US intelligence efforts, specifically in the search for Iraq's weapons, ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden, leader of the Islamist militant group accused in the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States. "The critical question is, do we have the capacity to find out and are we doing it, and the answer is, yes," said Representative Porter Goss of Florida, himself a former Central Intelligence Agency operative. "There is no question that lethal weapons in the hands of mischief makers have been proven to be a problem. "Be patient and understand that we have people working very hard on this." Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved. All information displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presses. |
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