Defense officials slanted intelligence to support White House claims Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — A controversial intelligence unit set up iin the Pentagon provided skewed prewar analysis to support Bush administration claims that Saddam Hussein was an ally of Al Qaeda, an investigation by Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee has found.
The intelligence unit, run by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith, shaded analytic judgments, ignored contrary evidence and sidestepped the CIA to present dubious findings to senior officials at the White House, the investigation concluded.
The report was released Thursday by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) after a 16-month inquiry conducted by Democratic staff members on the committee. Levin has been a persistent critic of Feith and the Bush administration on Iraq.
The report concluded that "intelligence relating to the Iraq-Al Qaeda relationship was manipulated by high-ranking officials in the [Department of Defense] to support the administration's decision to invade Iraq."
