Comment: While the initial report(review of the performance of the intelligence agencies) in late March will be interesting, this to be issued later report on these new areas of investigation, if released prior to Nov 04, could be really interesting!..."Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof — the smoking gun — that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud," Bush Cincinnati 10/02 speech
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&ncid=2026&e=1&u=/latimests/20040213/ts_latimes/senatesiraqprobetoincludebushaidesSenate's Iraq Probe to Include Bush, Aides
Fri Feb 13, 7:55 AM ET
By Greg Miller Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — In a blow to the Bush administration, the Senate Intelligence Committee said Thursday that it planned to investigate whether White House officials exaggerated the Iraq threat or pressured analysts to tailor their assessments of Baghdad's weapons programs to bolster the case for war. <snip>
New areas of inquiry will include "whether any influence was brought to bear on anyone to shape their analysis to support policy objectives," the statement said. Sources involved in the investigation said they had turned up no evidence so far that there was such pressure, or that analysts shaded their assessments to please the White House.
<snip>But the most significant shift for the committee is its determination to now examine "whether public statements and reports and testimony regarding Iraq" by administration figures were "substantiated by intelligence information." The statement said the committee would examine public comments and claims made not only by the current administration but by officials in the Clinton administration.<snip>
The committee now plans to issue an initial report based on its review of the performance of the intelligence agencies in late March or early April, the aide said, and the new areas of investigation could be the subject of a subsequent report. No date has been set, but Democrats are likely to push to get the information released well before the November elections.
<snip>
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAZI9PFMQD.htmlSenate Panel Agrees to Examine Statements on Iraq Intelligence
By Ken Guggenheim Associated Press Writer
Published: Feb 13, 2004
WASHINGTON (AP) -<snip> ..The committee will examine "whether public statements and reports and testimony regarding Iraq by U.S. government officials (between the 1991 Gulf War and the Iraq War) were substantiated by intelligence information," committee leaders said in a statement Thursday night.
<snip>In addition to examining public statements, the Senate committee will also review intelligence activities involving the office of Douglas Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy, and intelligence provided by the Iraqi National Congress, the leading exile group.
Democrats have charged that the Office of Special Plans under Feith functioned as a renegade intelligence agency, feeding policy-makers uncorroborated intelligence from the group. The Pentagon has said the office was a small operation set up to review intelligence produced by other agencies. <snip>