U.S. intelligence agencies need to explain why their research indicated Iraq possessed banned weapons before the American-led invasion, says the outgoing top U.S. inspector, who now believes Saddam Hussein had no such arms.
I don't think they exist,' David Kay said Sunday. 'The fact that we found so far the weapons do not exist - we've got to deal with that difference and understand why.'
Kay's remarks on National Public Radio reignited criticism from Democrats, who ignored his cautions that the failure to find weapons of mass destruction was "not a political issue."
"It's an issue of the capabilities of one's intelligence service to collect valid, truthful information," Kay said. Asked whether President Bush owed the nation an explanation for the gap between his warnings and Kay's findings, Kay said: "I actually think the intelligence community owes the president, rather than the president owing the American people."
Sloppy Reporting
AP reporter Scott Lindlaw also inaccurately quotes Vice President Cheney's interview on Meet the Press: Cheney warned in March 2003, three days before the invasion: "We believe he (Saddam) has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons." Cheney misspoke when he said that, which can be clearly understood from the transcript of the interview. Below are two other statements that do not jive with that misstatement, as quoted by the AP, where Cheney explains the government's position in greater detail:
1. "It's only a matter of time until he acquires nuclear weapons."
2. "And I think that would be the fear here, that even if he were tomorrow to give everything up, if he stays in power, we have to assume that as soon as the world is looking the other way and preoccupied with other issues, he will be back again rebuilding his BW and CW capabilities, and once again reconstituting his nuclear program. He has pursued nuclear weapons for over 20 years. Done absolutely everything he could to try to acquire that capability and if he were to cough up whatever he has in that regard now, even if it was complete and total, we have to assume tomorrow he would be right back in business again."