JULY 12, 2004

SCHAKOWSKY: BUSH ADMINISTRATION MISSTATEMENT OF THE DAY - 
PRE-WAR INTELLIGENCE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) issued "The Bush Administration Misstatement of the Day" on pre-war intelligence.

Speaking today in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, President Bush "defended his decision to invade Iraq even as he conceded on Monday that investigators had not found the weapons of mass destruction that he had warned the country possessed."  President Bush said that he "had a choice to make: either take the word of a madman or defend America. Given that choice I will defend America."

However, according to the Center for Americans Progress, the Bush Administration ignored intelligence information from U.S. and international sources about the true extent of the Iraqi threat.  According to the Center:

In February of 2003, a CIA report on proliferation said the intelligence community had "no 'direct evidence' that Iraq has succeeded in reconstituting its biological, chemical, nuclear or long-range missile programs in the two years since U.N. weapons inspectors left and U.S. planes bombed Iraqi facilities." Inspectors repeatedly told the UN Security Council they could not find evidence of weapons in Iraq and the IAEA warned Bush it had "found no evidence of ongoing prohibited nuclear or nuclear-related activities in Iraq." 

For more examples of the administration neglecting intelligence, check out this American progress backgrounder.