zimv20
Oct 12, 2003, 11:44 PM
link (http://www.msnbc.com/news/978334.asp?0cv=NB10)
With all the faulty data thrown at the world to make the case for war in Iraq, some people, from deeply skeptical critics to right-wingers who support the war’s aims, are asking the obvious next question: Why didn’t the United States plant the WMD evidence? Don’t think it wasn’t discussed.
WHILE NO evidence exists that “planting” WMD in Iraq has been discussed officially inside the Bush administration, intelligence sources confirm what just about anybody could deduce: The idea has come up in casual conversation.
_ _ _ _“Over beers, between consenting professionals, sure,” says a retired U.S. intelligence official with continuing ties to his former colleagues who requests not to be identified. “Options are options when you’ve put the country’s prestige on the line, and you discuss them all even if some of them seem outrageous.”
_ _ _ _Ray McGovern, a retired career CIA analyst who writes often on intelligence issues, believes this could still happen: “Some of my colleagues are virtually certain that there will be some weapons of mass destruction found, even though they might have to be planted,” he told AFP, the French news agency. “I’m just as sure that some few will be found, but not in an amount that by any stretch would justify the charge of a threat against the U.S. or anyone else.”
(more)
With all the faulty data thrown at the world to make the case for war in Iraq, some people, from deeply skeptical critics to right-wingers who support the war’s aims, are asking the obvious next question: Why didn’t the United States plant the WMD evidence? Don’t think it wasn’t discussed.
WHILE NO evidence exists that “planting” WMD in Iraq has been discussed officially inside the Bush administration, intelligence sources confirm what just about anybody could deduce: The idea has come up in casual conversation.
_ _ _ _“Over beers, between consenting professionals, sure,” says a retired U.S. intelligence official with continuing ties to his former colleagues who requests not to be identified. “Options are options when you’ve put the country’s prestige on the line, and you discuss them all even if some of them seem outrageous.”
_ _ _ _Ray McGovern, a retired career CIA analyst who writes often on intelligence issues, believes this could still happen: “Some of my colleagues are virtually certain that there will be some weapons of mass destruction found, even though they might have to be planted,” he told AFP, the French news agency. “I’m just as sure that some few will be found, but not in an amount that by any stretch would justify the charge of a threat against the U.S. or anyone else.”
(more)
