The Washington Post's Reckless Reporting On WMD Claims
Setting the Record Straight
"I will point out that the reporting I saw this morning was simply reckless and it was irresponsible. The lead in The Washington Post left the impression for the reader that the President was saying something he knew at the time not to be true. ? The President's statements were based on the joint assessment of the CIA and DIA that was publicly released the day before [the President made his statements]."
-Scott McClellan, White House Press Briefing
April 12, 2006
The Washington Post Implies President Bush Made Iraqi WMD Claims He Knew Had Already Been Proven False
The Washington Post: "On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. and Kurdish troops had turned out to be long-sought mobile 'biological laboratories.' He declared, 'We have found the weapons of mass destruction.' The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was hailed at the time as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true." (Joby Warrick, "Lacking Biolabs, Trailers Carried Case For War," The Washington Post, 4/12/06)
Then, ABC News Irresponsibly Mischaracterizes The Washington Post's Report: "They'd found a couple trailers that he said actually were the mobile biological laboratories that he said showed that they were indeed developing WMD, and The Washington Post has a story today that says the President knew at the time that was not true." (ABC's "Good Morning America," 4/12/06)
But The CIA And DIA Had Jointly Assessed At The Time That The Labs Were For Producing Biological Weapons
The President's Comments Followed The Intelligence Assessment Of The CIA And The DIA That Was Publicly Released Just One Day Earlier.
CIA/DIA Report (May 28, 2003): "Coalition forces have uncovered the strongest evidence to date that Iraq was hiding a biological warfare program. ... US forces in late April also discovered a mobile laboratory truck in Baghdad. The truck is a toxicology laboratory from the 1980s that could be used to support BW or legitimate research. The design, equipment, and layout of the trailer found in late April is strikingly similar to descriptions provided by a source who was a chemical engineer that managed one of the mobile plants." ("Iraqi Mobile Biological Warfare Agent Production Plants," Central Intelligence Agency And Defense Intelligence Agency, 5/28/03)
View The Entire CIA/DIA Report At:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraqi_mobile_plants/paper_w.pdf.
U.S. Intelligence Official: "'We are highly confident that the coalition forces in Iraq have discovered ... a mobile biological production plant,' a U.S. intelligence official, not identified by the CIA, said via conference call." (Michelle Mittelstadt, "U.S. Officials 'Confident' Mobile Labs Were Intended For Biological Weapons Production," The Dallas Morning News, 5/29/03)
The CIA/DIA Report Was Only Later Determined To Be Wrong By The Robb/Silberman WMD Commission And The Iraq Survey Group. (Commission On The Intelligence Capabilities Of The United States Regarding Weapons Of Mass Destruction, "Report To The President," 3/31/05)
