Iraq: Another WMD Hunter Belatedly Speaks Out
- From: NY.Transfer.News@xxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2006 02:39:16 GMT
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Iraq: Another WMD Hunter Belatedly Speaks Out
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
[Well, no shit, Sherlock... and why did it take this guy two and a half
years to open his mouth? No courage is required NOW to speak up. -NY Transfer]
sent by Dave Muller (southnews) - Aug 31, 2006
AP via Mainichi Daily News, Japan - Aug 31, 2006
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/international/africa-oceania/news/20060831p2g00m0in041000c.html
CIA used WMD search to try to justify Iraq war,
former Australian official says
SYDNEY, Australia -- An Australian who took part in the hunt for weapons
of mass destruction in Iraq revealed Thursday that he quit because he
felt the CIA controlled the program and had dedicated it to justifying
Washington's decision to go to war.
John Gee, a chemical weapons expert with Australia's Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade, quit the U.S.-led Iraq Survey Group in March
2004, months before it finally concluded that Saddam Hussein's regime
had dismantled its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs
years before the U.S.-led invasion in early 2003.
His reasons weren't made public at the time, or during a parliamentary
investigation last year into claims that U.S. officials censored
investigators' reports on the search for weapons in Iraq to support the
contention of U.S. President George W. Bush's administration that the
weapons programs existed.
In letters and e-mails printed Thursday in The Sydney Morning Herald,
Gee said he resigned because the Iraq Survey Group's activities were "to
all intents and purposes determined by the CIA" and its methods and
operations were "fundamentally flawed." He also explained his reasons in
a radio interview.
The CIA analysts in teams searching for chemical and biological weapons
were the same ones who concluded before the invasion -- officially
called Operation Iraqi Freedom -- that they must exist, Gee wrote in his
resignation letter to a senior diplomat assigned to the Australian
government's Iraq task force.
"Much of the two teams' work is geared to trying to justify pre-OIF
judgments rather than any attempt to establish the facts surrounding
Iraq's WMD programs," Gee wrote in the later, dated March 2, 2004.
"This is reinforced by a marked reluctance in Washington to face up to
the fact that Iraq almost certainly did not have WMD pre-OIF," he wrote.
Bush used the alleged threat posed by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction
to explain his decision to go to war in Iraq. A massive U.S.-led
investigation after the invasion revealed no such weapons, and the Iraq
Survey Group concluded in its final report in September 2004 that
Baghdad had dismantled its chemical, biological and nuclear arms
programs under U.N. supervision in 1991. Bush's administration hasn't
directly accepted the finding.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard is a staunch supporter of the Iraq
war and sent a small number of Australian troops to the fight. The
Australian government mirrored Washington's claims about Iraq's weapons
to justify its participation.
Gee told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Thursday that both
Washington and Canberra had a "preconceived" view that weapons of mass
destruction existed in Iraq, and that they didn't want to hear a
different message.
"It didn't seem to me to be an intellectually honest process," Gee said.
(AP)
***
ABC Australia - Aug 31, 2006
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1729679.htm
WMD search intellectually dishonest: inspector.
A former weapons inspector in Iraq says the process of searching for
weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) was intellectually dishonest.
John Gee is an expert on chemical weapons who worked with the United
States-led Iraqi Survey Group after the Iraq war.
Dr Gee resigned from the survey group in March 2004 because he had no
confidence in the process.
He has now spoken out about his concerns.
"The advice I gave the Government was there was no WMD in Iraq," he said.
"I had lost confidence in the process that was being carried out in Iraq
by the Iraq Survey Group.
"It didn't seem to be to be an intellectually honest process because it
was based on a preconception that there was WMD there to be found rather
than what I would term an intellectually honest process."
He says he had no choice but to resign.
Dr Gee says he explained his reasons in a report to the Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer, but claims the Minister suppressed it.
"I found out on my return that he'd issued instructions that it not be
distributed outside the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade," he said.
"I think there were some things in it that were uncomfortable for the
Government."
*
================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Search Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/htdig/search.html
List Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
Subscribe: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
================================================================
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2.2 (FreeBSD)
iD8DBQFE+Ozwiz2i76ou9wQRAjPHAKCZKwlhWZewV866e8gccIjVHWwECACgjxgF
jCFiDg7aReJUrjR6RskzauM=
=LwxW
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
.
- Prev by Date: Iraq: US Troop Deaths Rose Precipitously in August
- Next by Date: Iraq: Blood and Death "Just Routine" Now
- Previous by thread: Iraq: US Troop Deaths Rose Precipitously in August
- Next by thread: Iraq: Blood and Death "Just Routine" Now
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
