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The "common knowledge" is that US went to war with Iraq in 2003 based on "intelligence reports" claiming that Iraq had active Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) programs.

On the other hand, some people deny that, stating that the intelligence community claimed that Iraq has no active WMDs programs, and that the Bush administration doctored its own intelligence which didn't come out of any of US intelligence agencies.

Did the US intelligence community suggest that Iraq had WMDs?

DJClayworth
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vartec
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  • Are you talking about [this](http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/08/19/powell.un/)? – Sklivvz Aug 05 '14 at 12:48
  • @Sklivvz, yeah basically. Although the article you link isn't a clear cut in either direction. – vartec Aug 05 '14 at 12:52
  • Shouldn't the question be much more clear if the claim was that the Bush administration lied, then? I read the question as "was it ever claimed that US intelligence found evidence of WMD", which of course it was. – Sklivvz Aug 05 '14 at 13:01
  • So, do we have any examples of the "some people" in the second paragraph? Is Sklivvz's link it? – Oddthinking Aug 05 '14 at 13:20
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    Iraq proved that it had weapons of mass destructions in the late 80s [when they used them in a genocide against the Kurdish population in northern Iraq](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Anfal_Campaign). You might want to restrict the scope of your question to a fixed timeframe before 2003. – Philipp Aug 05 '14 at 13:25
  • @Sklivvz: not "was it ever claimed that US intelligence found evidence of WMD", but rather "was it ever claimed by US intelligence that they've found evidence of WMD" – vartec Aug 05 '14 at 14:26
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    The thing about people is that they have differing opinions. The same was true of the intelligence community. Another thing to remember is this is the same community that missed the huge red flags before 9-11. They are human and they make mistakes. – Chad Aug 05 '14 at 18:10
  • What evidence would you accept pro or against? The actual intelligence reports are likely classified. Administration statements that they acted on intelligence reports would rightfully be labeled as self-serving-biased. Statements by opposition confirming WMD concerns? (if the latter, your question is a duplicate of one on Politics.SE and my answer clearly shows such examples [here](http://politics.stackexchange.com/a/346/115)) – user5341 Aug 07 '14 at 14:56
  • @DVK existence of a report stating that active WMD programs exist issued by CIA, DIA, NSA or any othe official inteligence agencies would clearly contradict claim that it wasn't them who messed up. – vartec Aug 08 '14 at 21:50
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    @vartec since it's classified u have to wait 50 or so years – user5341 Aug 08 '14 at 23:09
  • The US intelligence community were given assignments by the government with enough hints in the assignments about what the broad outlines of the requested report should look like. Embarrassing the government with a politically incorrect report would be seen as a threat to national security in its own right. – Count Iblis Feb 22 '16 at 20:20

1 Answers1

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A highly redacted version of the 1 October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate "[Redacted] Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction" is public.

We judge that Iraq has continued its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program in defiance of UN resolutions and restrictions. Bagdad has chemical and biological weapons as well as missiles in excess of UN restrictions; if left uncheck it will probably have a nuclear weapon during this decade.

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Iraq has largely rebuilt missile and biological weapons facilities damaged during Operation Desert Fox and has expanded its chemical and biological infrastructure under the cover of civilian production

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We assess that Bagdad has begun renewed production of mustard gas, sarin, GF (cyclosarin), and VX

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Saddam probably has stocked at least 100 metric tons (MT) and possibly as much as 500MT of CW agents

Edit: a much less-redacted version appears to available here: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/images/Iraq/IraqWMDs.pdf

DavePhD
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