A Look Back At Powell's Case For War

Four Years Ago, Then-Secretary Of State Made Dramatic U.N. Speech About WMDs In Iraq

(CBS)  "What we are giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence," former Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a speech to the United Nations four years ago.

That statement about the evidence Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction was made by one of the most trusted men in America, CBS News correspondent David Martin reports. Weapons inspector David Kay remembers being impressed.

"It was partly because it came with Powell's reputation as much as the individual facts," Kay recalls.

He assumed the intelligence Powell had unveiled was only the tip of the iceberg.

"We have first-hand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails," Powell said in that speech.

"To have detailed diagrams of what those labs looked like, seemed to me, it meant that you had pretty detailed intelligence from inside the program," Kay says.

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2003 Video: Powell At The U.N.
2003 Video: 'Giant Jigsaw Puzzle'
2003 Video: Powell Interview

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But after the invasion, Kay was put in charge of finding the WMD, and he found out where those diagrams came from.

"It was a single source, a source that the U.S. intelligence had never, at that point, talked to. Didn't know his name," Kay says.

The person was, in fact, a fabricator.

The intelligence about Iraq was not all wrong. On the eve of the invasion, CIA analysts, including Paul Pillar, warned the aftermath could get ugly.

"It would be long. It would be turbulent. It would be filled with conflict and probably violence," Pillar had said.

But former CIA officer and now-CBS consultant John Brennan says the administration passed over that intelligence.

"I don't think there was enough attention paid to those assessments that said after the war, after the invasion, there's going to be difficulty in the streets of Iraq and in Baghdad," Brennan says.

Bad intelligence about WMD started the war, but it can't be blamed for all that has happened since.

"We would still have the same bloodshed, instability and destruction even if we did uncover those treasure troves of purported weapons," Brennan says.

Powell now says his U.N. speech will forever be a blot on his reputation.

[skyk-2009]

Knowing what we know now and knowing what Cheney knew then and watching the video of Powell just makes me sick! How corrupt is this Nazi, Cheney? He sent THOUSANDS of our kids off to die in a Desert looking for weapons KNOWING and being told what would happen regardless if they found them or not. Can we live with ourselves and allow this KILLER to walk amoung us? I sure hope not.

[pakaal]

What gets me is that the story ends with the statement that the biggest problem we had was neglected info on what would happen after we toppled Saddam. Powell and Kay were probably told the intel was good - that's what the rest of America believed as well. Why should we have thought to disbelieve a President and his cabinet when they told us Iraq was a grave threat?

Just shows how big a bunch of suckers we all were. Thing is, we're at a "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me" moment now. We know we've been duped, the question is do we sit back and say "you got me" or do we throw the bums out?

[skyk-2009]

Thanks to hindsight, you are all geniuses. It's amazing how democrats pounded their fists about how Saddam is a threat in 1998, then they reiterated the threat in 2002-2003, then as soon as the war started going badly they started taking advantage of every single opportunity to politicize it.

Truly pathetic.
Posted by easeup at 04:33 PM : Feb 06, 2007

What are you saying? Somehow this excuses the complete and total incompetence of Sir Lies-A-Lot? This excuse's the LIES we were told in the run up to the war? This makes the invasion of a country who had NO WMD's or had nothing to do with the attack on us, okay? God how low are you fascist willing to stoop to defend this pathetic LOSER? You people make my skin crawl!!

[amadanteque]

Bush senior was wise to get in and get out! At least he listened to Powell.The biggest mistake made by the Bush Jr administration was not the war to dethrone Sadamm and find WMD's (negligibly a noble cause). The biggest blunder rather was the pursuit a stupid policy to FORCE democracy on a region whose people could care less about snitching on insurgents let alone fight against them. Europeans in general (excluding Brits) do not believe in fighting for freedom as an ideal. Iraq at its best, when all wells were pumped, produced less than $15B per year NET. We're definitely NOT fighting for oil, because the investment and ROI (financials) do not make any sense. We're spending trillions here folks! Hello!!Is this thing on? Our soldiers never had permission to search Mosques for weapons, amos and chemical labs. Great going whoever agreed to that one! While the very foundation of American democracy stems from "Give me liberty or give me death". Today,you will probably find less than 50% of Americans believe in Patrick Henry's statement. Unfortunate but probably true. Democracy are for the few and as trash for those who loath and do not want it. One cannot expect an Islamic nation to accept democracy when The two are like water and oil.They will mix by nature when and only when "separation of church and state" becomes a pillar of an Islamic state. Believe in that one, and I've got land so sell you in Falujah!

[easeup-2009]

"The hard fact is that so long as Saddam remains in power, he threatens the well-being of his people, the peace of his region, the security of the world.

The best way to end that threat once and for all is with a new Iraqi government -- a government ready to live in peace with its neighbors, a government that respects the rights of its people."

President Clinton
Oval Office Address to the American People
December 16, 1998
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/16/transcripts/clinton.html

[easeup-2009]

"In the next century, the community of nations may see more and more the very kind of threat Iraq poses now -- a rogue state with weapons of mass destruction ready to use them or provide them to terrorists, drug traffickers or organized criminals who travel the world among us unnoticed.

If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow by the knowledge that they can act with impunity, even in the face of a clear message from the United Nations Security Council and clear evidence of a weapons of mass destruction program."

President Clinton
Address to Joint Chiefs of Staff and Pentagon staff
February 17, 1998
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/17/transcripts/clinton.iraq/

[easeup-2009]

Thanks to hindsight, you are all geniuses. It's amazing how democrats pounded their fists about how Saddam is a threat in 1998, then they reiterated the threat in 2002-2003, then as soon as the war started going badly they started taking advantage of every single opportunity to politicize it.

Truly pathetic.

[easeup-2009]

Thanks to hindsight, you are all geniuses. It's amazing how democrats pounded their fists about how Saddam is a threat in 1998, then they reiterated the threat in 2002-2003, then as soon as the war started going badly they started taking advantage of every single opportunity to politicize it.

Truly pathetic.

[grumpas]

Until Colin Powell became a Republican and associated with George W Bush I had a lot of respect for the man! But, sadly he lost every ounce of crediability when he made a pact with the devil!

[bluestardad]

The Bush administration put Powel up front because America believes him and in essence hung his credibility out to dry as just another casuality in the Iraq war.

[bluestardad]

Guys I just came across this AIPAC thing today!

Founded in 1953 by Isaiah L. "Si" Kenen, AIPAC's original name was the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs. According to UCLA political science professor and author, Steven Spiegel, "the tension between the Eisenhower administration and Israeli supporters was so acute that there were rumors (unfounded as it turned out) that the administration would investigate the American Zionist Council. Therefore, an independent lobbying committee was formed, which years later was renamed [AIPAC]." [SPIEGEL, p. 52].[citation needed] Today, AIPAC has over 100,000 members.[1]
Activities and stated goals
AIPAC's stated purpose is to lobby the Congress of the United States on issues and legislation "to ensure that the U.S.-Israel relationship is strong so that both countries can work together" to meet the challenges of "stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, fighting terrorism and achieving peace".[2] It regularly meets with members of Congress and holds events where it can share its views. It also provides analysis of the voting records of U.S. federal representatives and senators with regard to how they voted on legislation related to Israel. AIPAC has been effective in gaining support for Israel among members of Congress and White House administrations.
The New York Times described AIPAC on July 6, 1987 as "a major force in shaping United States policy in the Middle East."

[crater7]

THE PART I REMEMBER MOST ABOUT THIS SPEACH, WAS THE PART ABOUT THE ROLLING WMB LAB ON THE BACK OF A SEMI. I STILL TODAY, PICTURE THIS MAD SCIENTIST RIDING AROUND IRAQ, ON THE BACK OF A SEMI, WHIPPING UP POTIONS OF WMD'S, WITH THE HELP OF HIS SIDE KICK MORTUS, THE HUMP BACK ASSISTIANT, TOSSING THE DEADLY POTIONS ABOUT THE COUNTRY SIDE. HOW COULD ANYONE HAVE BELIEVED THIS SO CALLED INTEL., TRASH?

[ov442]

Thats what all that republican unity and loyalty will get you.. Powell - a promising political candidate with a reputation for wise, candid, honest, integrous personality.... went to bat for an administration that hung him out to dry with basically an entire case that was fabricated by White House morons with no experience in running a government successfully.
They shelved every Intelligence report that contradicted what the White House wanted to say. Thats why Cheney sought revenge on that Ambassador with the CIA wife. He was just abusing his power and trying to silence a critic who knew inside info contrary to the puke Bush was spewing at us.

[dallison7]

We would still have the same bloodshed, instability and destruction even if we did uncover those treasure troves of purported weapons," Brennan says.

What a lame statement!! Those 'treasure troves' as he called them did not exist!! We should not have invaded that country!!

[dallison7]

did we elect this @#%*&! Oh yeah... we didn't. Al Gore for Nobel peace prize!
Posted by brendan1973

Chris Matthews reminded us late night of the irony that the Green party cost Al Gore the election. (If Nader had not taken 9000 votes away from him in Florida, Bush could not have pulled off the theft.)

[dallison7]

would invite folks to review Ray Robinson's work at FOXNEWS:

http://www.foxnews.com/story
/0,2933,200908,00.html
Posted by rocketsbrain

NO THANKS!! FAUX NEWS MAKES PEOPLE STUPID!!

[alphaa10-2009]

correction-- "In constructing an apology for Bush invasion plans in his December, 2002, speech to the UN" should read "In constructing an apology for Bush invasion plans in December, 2002, for his speech to the UN"...

[alphaa10-2009]

Powell regrets to this day the considerable effort he invested in Bush. Powell had honored the value of loyalty to the bitter end, even as his own reputation was abused by the mean purposes to which Cheney and Bush put his trusting faith in their integrity. Nothing could say this more eloquently than Powell's decision to leave at the earliest acceptable moment.

In constructing an apology for Bush invasion plans in his December, 2002, speech to the UN, Powell tossed out the raft of material offered him by Cheney's troops, considering it less than persuasive proof of the case for invasion.

Powell's own disdain for the Cheney argument further erodes the notion Iraq was simply poor CIA intelligence. Cheney's hell-bent focus on Iraq was early, amateurish and obsessive, coloring everything Bush and Cheney said and did. Cheney from the beginning rejected CIA influence, and browbeat CIA professional analysts with his insistent bias against the CIA's own product. It was abundantly clear to all-- especially CIA analyst professionals-- what the politically correct answers had to be.

[clemenhagen1]

Rocketsbrain: Warning! Too much Fox News turns your brain to mush. Are we to believe that Saddam cooked up weapons of mass destruction and peddled them to Shia? He had been at war with Shia virtually from the outset of his regime, but he will turn around and sell them WMD? Still peddling the link to Al Qaida myth over at Fox too? Real slow here kids...Saddam was a secular Sunni - al Qaida were/are Islamists. Why would Saddam support a group that fundamentally opposed the right of all secular governments to exist? This garbarge makes zero sense. Not only do you have to suspend your disbelief when it comes to the fact that ZERO weapons were discovered. But even if we were to accept the highly dubious claim that they did/do still exist, the argument that he would provide them to the aforementioned groups defies all credulity. Finally, if these weapons did in fact exist after all, why have they not been used? Do really think the "evil-doers" would refrain from using them now if they had these WMB in their possession. Start thinking a little more clearly my friend. God gave you the capacity to reason; for the love of all that is sacred please exercise the faculty!

[brendan1973]

4 out of 5 quality comments so far.
If we had a good person as president, US would be using our resources to help places like Darfur rather than creating this mayhem in Iraq. Who by the way was no threat to us. I wonder if Iraq had no oil, or if war profiteering was not occuring, would Curious George have invaded Iraq? Imperialism. Why did we elect this @#%*&! Oh yeah... we didn't. Al Gore for Nobel peace prize!

oh and after the scientist report the other day about global warming... do the repub's still thing global warming was made up and used by Gore simply to get elected? Or are they still blinded by the almighty dollar? More tax cuts for the $25 million dollar a year CEO's George! Oh yeah, and cut health provision for uninsured children according to todays budget proposal.

We need to impeach this disaster of an administration! We can't wait another 2 years.