U.S. To Share Iraq Secrets

Perhaps as early as next week, the White House plans to declassify and release intelligence material intended to show that Iraq possesses and is hiding weapons of mass destruction.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Tuesday that President Bush has not yet made his case for war, and will not do so during the State of the Union speech, though he will discuss the "serious threat" posed by Saddam Hussein, reports CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller.

The release of intelligence, first reported by the Washington Post, will include evidence that the Iraqis have moved weapons equipment and concealed arms program data to frustrate United Nations inspectors. However, officials tell the Post the dossier will not contain any "smoking gun" that points to obvious weapons violations by the Iraqis.

The administration's argument for war appeared to enter its final phase Tuesday, a day after chief United Nations weapons inspectors strongly criticized the Iraqis for failing to commit to disarmaments.

The inspectors credited Iraq with only limited cooperation, faulting it for failing to facilitate access to scientists and key documents, and dodging questions about the fate of stockpiles of VX nerve gas, anthrax germs and long-range missile programs.

In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, denied that Iraq has anthrax and insisted that the government had fully cooperated with inspectors. But other Arab leaders are not optimistic that Iraq is doing enough to avoid war.

"The strike is coming — coming unless Iraq abides by the resolutions of international legitimacy and ceases to put obstacles in front of the international inspection operations," Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in an interview published Tuesday with the Al-Itihad newspaper of the United Arab Emirates.

In his report Monday, top nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei asked the Council to give inspectors more time. Other allies echoed this call, which the U.S. did not reject. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the administration might go along with inspections for about two weeks.

In the meantime, Secretary of State Colin Powell, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Negroponte and other American diplomats will lobby the 14 other members of the Security Council to implement the "serious consequences" the council threatened Iraq with in November.

The president planned to huddle with his closest ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on Friday. Britain's foreign minister, Jack Straw, said Tuesday that the "damning and disturbing" report by inspectors proved Iraq was in "material breach" of a the disarmament resolution — using the code word that would justify war, with or without a second U.N. resolution, in the U.S. view.

Asked Tuesday if the administration supports returning to the council for a second resolution before going to war, Fleischer said, "It's desirable but it is not mandatory."

In recent weeks, three veto-bearing Security Council members — France, China and Russia — have expressed reservations about supporting the use of force. So has Council member Germany, which will soon take over the chair of the Council, but has no veto.

But on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow could soften its insistence on a diplomatic solution if Baghdad hampers U.N. weapons inspectors.

"If Iraq begins to make problems for the work of the inspectors, then Russia may change its position and agree with the United States on the development of different, tougher U.N. Security Council decisions," Putin said during a visit to Ukraine.

Mr. Bush will try to prepare the nation for war in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, aides have said, but will withhold an announcement of an attack that many members of Congress oppose and polls indicate does not have the support of the American people.

A senior Bush adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mr. Bush would cite U.S. claims of Iraqi links to al Qaeda in his speech and that Powell would reveal evidence of the ties and more about hidden Iraqi weapons next week. No proof of that alleged link has yet been made public.

According to U.S. officials, one senior leader lost a leg to U.S. bombing in Afghanistan and received medical treatment in Baghdad. He then went to northeastern Iraq and joined a group that has links to al Qaeda and is suspected of having provided the deadly biological agent ricin to alleged terrorists recently arrested in London.

The president's deputy national security adviser is heading a task force screening intelligence to see what can be released without endangering sources.

One incident that could be reported, says the Post, is a warning an Iraqi official gave to a site about to be inspected, telling staff to hide weapons. Another is a directive to scientists to conceal documents on weapons programs. Photographs of activity at suspicious sites might also be released.

CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin reports the National Security Agency has reportedly eavesdropped on Iraqis talking about hiding material from the inspectors at the same time they are cooperating with them, although officials say it's not always clear exactly what it is the Iraqis are hiding.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon is pushing ahead with war preparations that point to more than 150,000 troops and four aircraft carrier battle groups, each with more than 70 warplanes, in the Persian Gulf region by the end of February.

In a significant step, the Pentagon concluded an arrangement with the Turkish government to permit up to 20,000 U.S. troops to use bases in Turkey for a potential ground invasion into northern Iraq, a senior Defense Department official said.