Spymasters: CIA in the Crosshairs Page #5

TARGET:
IRAQ.

THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT SADDAM

HUSSEIN NOW HAS WEAPONS OF MASS

DESTRUCTION, AND HE HAD

ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIP WITH AL

QAEDA.

THERE WAS A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

AL QAEDA AND IRAQ THAT STRETCHED

BACK TEN YEARS.

THAT'S NOT SOMETHING I THOUGH OF, THAT'S WHAT THE DIRECTOR OF

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE WAS TELLING

US.

THIS CONNECTION DID NO EXIST.

WE INTERVENED ON NUMEROUS

OCCASIONS TO SAY SO.

EVERYBODY KNEW WHAT OUR POINT OF

VIEW WAS.

AND I REMEMBER ONCE GOING TO THE

PRESIDENT AND SAYING, "LOOK,

WE... THIS HAS GOT TO STOP.

WE CAN'T SUPPORT THIS LANGUAGE."

NEITHER C.I.A. NOR ANY OTHER

GOVERNMENT AGENCY EVER FOUND ANY

EVIDENCE THAT IRAQ PLAYED ANY

ROLE AT ALL IN 9/11.

WE STUCK WITH THAT VIEW

THAT SADDAM WAS NOT INVOLVED IN

9.11.

Narrator:
BUT ON THE CENTRAL

QUESTION, DOES SADDAM HUSSEIN

HAVE WEAPONS OF MASS

DESTRUCTION?, THE C.I.A.'S

ANSWER IS YES.

IN THE OVAL OFFICE, DIRECTOR

TENET REASSURES GEORGE W. BUSH

WITH A METAPHOR THAT BECOMES

INFAMOUS.

I SAID, "WE CAN MAKE THIS

BETTER.

IT'S A SLAM DUNK."

IT WAS TENET WHO ASSURED

PRESIDENT BUSH THE QUESTION OF

IRAQ HAVING WEAPONS OF MASS

DESTRUCTION WAS A SLAM DUNK.

A "SLAM DUNK."

NOW, THE WAY IT WAS PORTRAYED

WAS, THIS WAS THE SEMINAL MOMEN IN THE PRESIDENT'S LIFE IN TERMS

OF DECIDING WHETHER TO GO TO WAR

OR NOT, AND THAT'S NOT WHA HAPPENED AT ALL.

THE DECISION TO GO TO WAR AND

ORDERS TO SEND TROOPS HAD

ALREADY BEEN SIGNED.

I MEAN, WE... WE WERE WAY DOWN

THE ROAD HERE.

WHAT I WANTED TO CONVEY IS THERE

WAS PROBABLY A BETTER WAY FOR US

TO MAKE THIS A BETTER PUBLIC

CASE.

Narrator:
THAT PUBLIC CASE TO

GO TO WAR WILL BE MADE BY

SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL

IN A PIVOTAL SPEECH VETTED BY

THE C.I.A. AND GEORGE TENET.

WE WORKED AS HARD AS WE KNEW

HOW TO MAKE SURE THAT THE

SECRETARY WAS GOING TO SPEAK TO

THE WORLD ON THE BASIS ON THE

TRUTH AS WE UNDERSTOOD IT.

NOW, WE WERE ALSO LIVING IN A

TIME PERIOD WHERE THERE WAS NO

OUTSIDE INTELLIGENCE SERVICE OR

EXPERTS OR ANYBODY WHO BELIEVED

HE DID NOT HAVE WEAPONS OF MASS

DESTRUCTION.

WE KNOW THAT SADDAM HUSSEIN

IS DETERMINED TO KEEP HIS

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION;

HE'S DETERMINED TO MAKE MORE.

LEAVING SADDAM HUSSEIN IN

POSSESSION OF WEAPONS OF MASS

DESTRUCTION FOR A FEW MORE

MONTHS OR YEARS IS NOT AN

OPTION.

Narrator:
AND COLIN POWELL

MAKES A STARTLING CLAIM ABOU BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS THAT COMES

FROM A DUBIOUS SOURCE, A SOURCE

SOME IN THE C.I.A. KNEW WAS

UNRELIABLE.

WE HAVE FIRSTHAND

DESCRIPTIONS OF BIOLOGICAL

WEAPONS FACTORIES ON WHEELS AND

ON RAILS.

HE HAS THE ABILITY TO DISPENSE

THESE LETHAL POISONS AND

DISEASES IN WAYS THAT CAN CAUSE

MASSIVE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.

IT SHOULD'VE NEVER BEEN IN

THE SPEECH.

THIS WAS AN INTERNAL FAILURE OF

SOME PROPORTIONS INSIDE C.I.A.

OUR SENIOR OFFICER IN GERMANY

WAS WRITING CABLES IN THAT THERE

WERE PROBLEMS WITH THE SOURCE,

"DON'T USE THIS SOURCE."

NEVER SURFACED TO US, EVER

SURFACED TO US.

YOU KNOW, WE LET HIM DOWN.

AND HE KNOWS HOW I FEEL ABOU ALL THIS.

MY FELLOW CITIZENS, AT THIS

HOUR, AMERICAN AND COALITION

FORCES ARE IN THE EARLY STAGES

OF MILITARY OPERATIONS TO DISARM

IRAQ, TO FREE IT'S PEOPLE.

FROM GRAVE DANGER.

IT'S BEEN 21 MONTHS SINCE

PRESIDENT BUSH LAUNCHED THE

INVASION OF IRAQ BASED IN LARGE

PART ON THE FAULTY INTELLIGENCE

THAT SADDAM HAD WEAPONS OF MASS

DESTRUCTION.

THE SENATE INTELLIGENCE

COMMITTEE HAS ISSUED A SCATHING

REPORT ON C.I.A. INTELLIGENCE

FAILURES ON THE THREAT LEVEL OF

PREWAR IRAQ.

WE WENT TO WAR IN IRAQ BASED

ON FALSE CLAIMS.

WE WERE ALL VERY SURPRISED,

FRANKLY, THAT THERE WERE NO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

FOUND.

WE GOT W.M.D. VERY WRONG.

OUR BLAME IN THIS WAS NO JUST THAT WE WERE WRONG.

WE WERE AND THAT'S BAD, BUT WE

DID NOT COMMUNICATE OUR

AMBIGUITY.

WE DID NOT COMMUNICATE THAT WE

HAD ANYTHING EXCEPT FULL

CONFIDENCE IN OUR ESTIMATES TO

THE POLICY-MAKERS, AND THAT'S

REALLY THE ISSUE.

OUR ANALYSTS WERE GOOD AND

HONEST PEOPLE.

THERE'S NO POLITICAL MOTIVATION

HERE.

WE BASICALLY CAME TO THOSE

CONCLUSIONS.

NOBODY COOKED THE BOOKS?

NO.

LOOK... LOOK, IF WE WANTED TO

COOK THE BOOKS, IF YOU WANTED TO

COOK THE BOOKS, ALL YOU NEEDED

TO DO WAS SAY "IRAQ WAS DIRECTLY

INVOLVED IN 9/11."

GAME, SET, MATCH POINT, OVER.

WE NEVER DID THAT.

SO WE WERE WRONG, AND WE HAVE TO

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THAT.

BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY,

POLICYMAKERS NEED TO BE A LITTLE

BIT MORE FORTHCOMING ABOUT WHA THEIR OWN MOTIVATIONS WERE-- IN

THIS INSTANCE, PERHAPS, HOW TO

REMAKE THE MIDDLE EAST.

Narrator:
THE WAR RAGES ON

FOR EIGHT YEARS, SOWING CHAOS

AND DESTRUCTION...

NO ELECTRICITY, NO WATER,

EVERYBODY IS SUFFERING.

MY COUNTRY, NOT BRITISH OR

AMERICAN.

Narrator:
...AND LEAVING

NEARLY 5,000 AMERICANS DEAD,

30,000 WOUNDED AND HUNDREDS OF

THOUSANDS OF IRAQIS KILLED.

AN INTELLIGENCE FAILURE SUCH

AS THAT THAT TOOK PLACE IN 2003

CHANGES HISTORY.

Narrator:
RISING FROM THE

ASHES OF IRAQ, A TERROR GROUP

KNOWN AS ISIS.

RUTHLESS AND BARBARIC, THEY WILL

BE A FORMIDABLE ENEMY IN THE

YEARS AHEAD.

BUT IN THE AFTERMATH OF 9/11,

THE C.I.A. FACES A MORE

IMMEDIATE THREAT: AL QAEDA IS

POISED TO STRIKE AMERICA AGAIN.

WE COULD NOT AFFORD TO BE HI AGAIN.

EVERYTHING THAT WE HOLD DEAR WAS

AT RISK.

THE GREATEST WORRY WAS IF

THEY WERE THAT COMMITTED TO THE

ATTACK THAT TOOK PLACE ON 9/11,

AND THEY HAD THAT MUCH HATE IN

THEM, WOULD THEY RESORT TO A

NUCLEAR WEAPON SOMEPLACE?

AFTER 9/11, WE RECEIVED A

REPORT FROM A FOREIGN SERVICE

THAT SAID THAT IN AUGUST OF

2001, BIN LADEN AND ZAWAHIRI SA AT A CAMPFIRE WITH PAKISTANI

NUCLEAR SCIENTISTS REPRESENTING

A NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION.

THESE NUCLEAR SCIENTISTS HAD

TALKED TO AL QAEDA ABOUT THE

PRACTICALITIES OF DEVELOPING A

NUCLEAR WEAPONS CAPABILITY.

THE PAKISTANIS SAID, "WELL, YOU

KNOW, THE HARD PART ABOUT THIS

IS ACQUIRING THE FISSILE

MATERIAL."

AND THEN, BIN LADEN LOOKED A HIM AND SAID, "WELL, WHAT MAKES

YOU THINK WE DON'T ALREADY HAVE

IT?"

Narrator:
THE C.I.A. BELIEVES

BIN LADEN HAS THE DESIGN,

MATERIALS AND TARGET FOR A

NUCLEAR WEAPON.

WE BEGAN TO RECEIVE REPORTING

THAT AL QAEDA HAD PLACED A

NUCLEAR WEAPON IN NEW YORK CITY.

Narrator:
INTELLIGENCE POINTS

TO SUBWAYS, BUILDINGS, BRIDGES--

ALL TARGETED FOR DESTRUCTION AND

CHILLING EVIDENCE THAT THE EAS COAST OF AMERICA WAS NOT THE

ONLY TARGET AL QAEDA HAD CHOSEN.

THE 9/11 PLOT HAD ALSO A PLO TO ATTACK THE WEST COAST OF THE

U.S. SIMULTANEOUSLY USING

AIRPLANES HIJACKED FROM ASIA.

BIN LADEN TURNED DOWN THIS PAR OF THE OPERATION BECAUSE HE

CONSIDERED IT TOO COMPLICATED.

Narrator:
BUT NOW, THAT PLO TO ATTACK AMERICA'S WEST COAS IS GIVEN NEW LIFE.

THE C.I.A. GOES INTO OVERDRIVE,

KNOWING THAT THE COST OF ANOTHER

9/11 WOULD BE BEYOND

MEASUREMENT.

THIS PERIOD OF TIME, WITH

WHAT WE KNEW ABOUT THEIR

INTEREST IN WEAPONS OF MASS

DESTRUCTION AND WHAT WE KNEW

ABOUT THE CONVENTIONAL THREATS

THAT WE WERE SEEING EVERY DAY

MADE IT FEEL AS IF WE WERE

LIVING A TICKING TIME BOMB EVERY

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