Pentagon Won't Publicly Release Iraq Report, After All

by D. Cupples  |  Our nation invaded Iraq in March 2003.  Bush Administration officials gave multiple "reasons" for wanting to do so, including the claim that Iraq had ties to al Qaeda (and the 9/11 attacks).  In September 2003, President Bush -- himself -- said that there was no connection between Iraq and 9/11. ( Cox News Service and BBC)

A controversial new report further cements the notion that the Administration's pre-war claims were false.  Originally, the Pentagon  planned to release the report publicly but has changed its plans.  McClatchy reports:

"The Pentagon on Wednesday canceled plans for broad public release of a study that found no pre-Iraq war link between late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the al Qaida terrorist network.

"Rather than posting the report online and making officials available to discuss it, as had been planned, the U.S. Joint Forces Command said it would mail copies of the document to reporters — if they asked for it. The report won't be posted on the Internet.

"The reversal highlighted the politically sensitive nature of its conclusions, which were first reported Monday by McClatchy.

"In making their case for invading Iraq in 2002 and 2003, President Bush and his top national security aides claimed that Saddam's regime had ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.

"But the study, based on more than 600,000 captured documents, including audio and video files, found that while Saddam sponsored terrorism, particularly against opponents of his regime and against Israel, there was no evidence of an al Qaida link. (McClatchy)"

All that said, it seems that grounds for impeachment are as elusive to our House of Representatives as those still-not-found Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Larry Johnson, who worked for the CIA and State Department, has a great backgrounder on this issue at No Quarter.  Memeorandum has commentary.

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