Murray Waas, writing for the National Journal, (via Daily Kos) reports that President Bush knew that claims regarding Iraq’s use of aluminum tubes in a nuclear program were disputed by U.S. intelligence agencies and yet, he went on to tell the American people in the State of the Union, without qualification, that the aluminum tubes were for use in a nuclear program.
[A] classified one-page summary of a National Intelligence Estimate, specifically written for Bush in October 2002. . . said that although “most agencies judge” that the aluminum tubes were “related to a uranium enrichment effort,” the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research and the Energy Department’s intelligence branch “believe that the tubes more likely are intended for conventional weapons.”
Three months after receiving that assessment, the president stated without qualification in his January 28, 2003, State of the Union address: “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production.”
Mr. Waas reports that “Karl Rove cautioned White House aides in the summer of 2003 that Bush’s 2004 re-election prospects would be severely damaged if it was publicly disclosed that he had been personally warned that a key rationale for going to war had been challenged within the administration.”
This report suggests why the Bush administration was so keen to discredit Joseph Wilson who blew the whistle on Bush’s State of the Union claims. Apparently in retaliation, the Bush administration went so far as to reveal the identity of Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, as a covert CIA agent. The Vice-President’s chief of staff, Scooter Libby, is now on trial for obstructing the investigation into the blown CIA cover.
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