More on that subject.....I don't really see the joke here.
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| EXCLUSIVE: Bush administration to release tapes that could incriminate Iraq. Hold onto your hat, says one U.S. intelligence official, weve got it. |
By Michael Isikoff and Michael Hirsh
NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE |
| Jan. 31
The Bush administration is preparing to release supersensitive electronic intercepts obtained by the National Security Agency that officials say prove that Iraq has repeatedly lied to United Nations inspectors, plotted among themselves about how to conceal weapons material and even appeared to boast afterward at their success in doing so, NEWSWEEK has learned. |
THE DECISION TO allow Secretary of State Colin Powell to use the electronic intercepts in his speech next Wednesday to the U.N. was described by U.S. intelligence officials as extraordinary. Electronic intercepts by the NSA are considered the most jealously guarded of all U.S. intelligence secrets and government officials are normally loath to even refer to their existence for fear of tipping off targets and drying up invaluable sources of information.
But in this case, officials said, the intercepts are so damning and dramatic that officials say their release outweighs the potential harmespecially given the increased likelihood that the United States will shortly be launching an invasion of Iraq anyway.
Hold onto your hat. Weve got it, said one U.S. intelligence official familiar with the evidence gathered by the NSA.
For the past two months, ever since the U.N. inspectors re-entered Iraq and began searching for weapons of mass destruction, the NSA has been closely monitoring the conversations of Iraqi officials. The NSA intercepts establish conclusively that the Iraqis have been hiding stuff from the inspectors, the U.S. intelligence official said.
Theyre saying things like, Move that, Dont be reporting that and Ha! Can you believe they missed that, the official said. Its that kind of stuff.
Other officials cautioned, however, against viewing the intercepts as the long-sought smoking gun in the search for Iraqs purported stockpile of banned weapons. There may still be some ambiguity about what the Iraqis are referring to in some of the conversations. Some of the material being concealed may be precursors to building weapons, or even documents and computer disks as opposed to actual chemical or biological weapons themselves. The transcripts show that theres been a pattern of deception, said another official, who had been briefed on the evidence. But does that make the case that you have to go to war?
One official who had reviewed a transcript of the conversations disputed suggestions that the Iraqis were joking about deceiving the inspectors, describing them as straightforward discussions that nonetheless clearly showed concealment by the Iraqis in their dealings with the inspectors. A White House aide said the electronic intercepts were only one part of a much broader picture that would include satellite photos and other evidence showing Iraqi noncompliance. There wont be a smoking gun, but when people hear it all youll see a burning forest, said one senior administration official.
Powells speech will contain a lot of different pieces of information that add up to painting a compelling picture, an administration official said. Another official said the administration had evidence that Iraq had set up deception teams that were orchestrating the concealment of weapons from the inspectors.
Officials at the CIA, the State Department, the National Security Council and Vice President Cheneys office were said to be working shoulder to shoulder reviewing raw data to determine precisely how much information can be declassified for use in Powells report to the U.N. scheduled for next week.
While precise details have yet to be worked out, officials described the decision to use the intercepts at all as stunningespecially in an administration that has prided itself on its commitment to secrecy in national-security matters. One official said next weeks speech by Powell will amount to the most significant release of this kind of sensitive information since President Ronald Reagan revealed NSA intercepts that linked Muammar Kaddafi to the 1986 La Belle disco bombing in West Berlin.
One argument for releasing the intercepts, officials said, is that the normal reasons against doing sotipping off the Iraqis to phone lines or cell phones that were being monitoredmay not matter if the U.S. military is about to invade anyway. Another argument is that full disclosure, or at least substantial disclosure of the intercepts, will persuade an increasingly skeptical public in the United States and other Western nations about the nature of the case against the Iraqis.
Im all for it, said Rep. Jane Harman of California, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Its very important to have popular and multinational support for this effort. Harmon said the administrations body of evidence, which has been shared with the intelligence committees, is strong enough that it will accomplish that purpose. If so, Harmon said, she was still hopeful that Iraq would be forced into compliance and war could be averted.
The White House has been regularly receiving the NSA transcripts ever since the inspectors returned to Iraq late last year. The damning nature of some of the transcripts, officials said, explain President Bushs occasional outbursts of anger at the Iraqis, as well as the willingness by Powellwho had previously cautioned against warto lay out a damning picture of Iraqi noncompliance in next weeks speech. One official who had dinner with Powell recently said the secretary remarked how we have a stronger case than many people realize.
Tamara Lipper also contributed to this article. 2003 Newsweek, Inc.
Edited by - shakita on 1 February 2003 12:57:56
