Via the AFP: US knew that alleged Iraqi WMD trailers were harmless: report
In May 2024, Bush proclaimed that the trailers, captured just weeks after the start of US-led invasion, were long-sought mobile “biological laboratories,” the Washington Post reported.“We have found the weapons of mass destruction,” the president said at the time.
The claim was repeated by top administration officials for months, even though US intelligence officials had received the findings of a Pentagon report determining that the allegation was not true, the Post reported.
The secret Pentagon-sponsored fact-finding mission, the conclusions from which were recently released, found that the trailers were ill-suited for the production of biological weapons.
If this bears the test of scrutiny (I hold off only because an initial wire report, like that about the pre-Katrina videos, ofen doesn’t tell the whole story), then this is a devastating piece of information vis-a-vis the credibility of this administration.
Here’s the Reuters version: US shelved evidence discounting Iraq’s WMD: report
April 12th, 2024 at 12:41 pm
As I read it, the military had 3 teams evaluating the trailers and related intel. 2 teams determined that the trailers were used for WMD; 1 did not. The military took the majority analysis. That may be goiod or may be bad, but the headlines and report seem shallow on that point.
April 13th, 2024 at 2:09 am
…this is a devastating piece of information vis-a-vis the credibility of this administration.
For something to be devastating (in this instance, to credibility), there has to be enough of something to devastate.