The Counter-deception Blog

CNN Special Report: 'Dead Wrong:' Inside an Intelligence Meltdown

President Bush's case for pre-emptive war against Iraq was based substantially on evidence that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction. But a presidential commission described the pre-war intelligence as "dead wrong." CNN Presents pieces together the chain of events that led to the faulty intelligence.

Dead Wrong: Inside an Intelligence Meltdown CNN USA air times All times ET Saturday, August 27 3 p.m., 8 p.m., 11 p.m.

Further Reading:

The Commission on the Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction

This site provides access to the full text of the Commission's report, published on 31st March 2005. The Commission was established in February 2004 to assess the United States intelligence community and whether it is sufficiently organised and equipped to identify and warn the government of weapons of mass destruction proliferation in foreign countries. The report looks in particular at the intelligence failures on Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction and asserts that the intelligence community needs to be transformed in order to meet the demands and threats of the current environment. The chapters look at intelligence assessments, successes and failures on Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and monitoring nuclear weapons development in North Korea and Iran. It also looks at leadership and management in the intelligence community; intelligence collection, analysis and information sharing; homeland security; counter intelligence; and covert action.

Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq

This site provides access to a full text pdf document produced by the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence published on the 7th July 2004. The report looks at American intelligence before the 2003 Iraq War on Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction, Iraqi links to terrorist groups, the threat Saddam Hussein posed to the region's security and his regime. It looks at the collection of intelligence on Iraq, whether the Intelligence Community's judgements were accurate and distributed to policymakers properly.

Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction

This is the official site of the committee of Privy Counsellors headed by Lord Butler, also known as the Butler Committee, which was set up in February 2004 by Jack Straw to investigate intelligence on Iraq prior to the 2003 Iraq War including information on its weapons of mass destruction, how the intelligence was gathered and analysed, and to make recommendations for future intelligence gathering. The site contains the full text final report of the Committee, information on the procedures of the Committee including terms of reference and the timetable, and biographies of the review team.

Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction : Intelligence and Assessments

CM 5972, produced by the Intelligence and Security Committee and presented to Parliament in September 2003. The purpose of this report was not to decide whether the invasion of Iraq was correct - it was produced to assess whether the intelligence which informed the invasion was correct and accurately reflected in UK Government publications. The report assesses all Joint Intelligence Committee assessments published since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. It also studies two reports issued by the Government: the Iraq Dossier, Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Assessment of the British Government, published in September 2002; and Iraq: Its Infrastructure of Concealment, Deception and Intimidation, published in February 2003.

Report of the Inquiry into Australian Intelligence Agencies

Also known as the Flood Report, this site provides access to full text html and pdf versions of the report published in July 2004. It has been written by Mr Philip Flood who was appointed by the Prime Minister to examine intelligence organisations and their assessments in response to a recommendation from the Parliamentary Joint Committee into ASIO, ASIS and DSD (PJCAAD) inquiry into intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction in March 2004. The report looks at Australia's intelligence needs; the intelligence community and how it operates; intelligence assessments and the quality of information used to make the case for going to war in Iraq in March 2003; intelligence on the threat posed by Jemaah Islamiah, the group blamed for the Bali terrorist attacks in 2002; and makes recommendations for reforming Australia's intelligence agencies.

Iraq Weapons Inspection Database

This is a searchable database providing a record of weapons inspections carried out by the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Iraq between November 2002 and March 2003. The database is compiled by an independent research organisation (VERTIC) who are concerned with the verification and monitoring of international agreements. The database can be browsed alphabetically by site inspected and the records provide details of the type of facility, region, proprietor, date of inspection, type of inspection team and number of inspectors. The site also provides background information to the weapons inspections, a guide to how the database was compiled and links to related VERTIC publications which can be freely downloaded on the site.

WMD in Iraq : Evidence and Implications

Written by Joseph Cirincione, Jessica T. Mathews, George Perkovich and Alexis Orton and published in January 2004, this Carnegie report investigates the United States Intelligence Community's assessment on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction prior to the 2003 Iraq War. It looks at prewar intelligence, Iraq's capbailities to produce WMD, evidence of these activities found in Iraq and lessons for the future.

The Problem of Intelligence on Iraqi WMD CSIS - Anthony Cordesman
Intelligence, Iraq, and Weapons of Mass Destruction Executive Summary
Intelligence, Iraq, and Weapons of Mass Destruction Main Report

Intelligence, Iraq, and Weapons of Mass Destruction Main Report with Supporting Annex

See also: History of conflict - War in Iraq