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CIA Adviser Says Iraq Weapons Clues Found
Fri Aug 1 16:11:35 2003
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CIA Adviser Says Iraq Weapons Clues Found
http://news.findlaw.com/ap/i/1107/8-1-2003/20030801013011_09.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. agents have reportedly found some evidence of a weapons program in Iraq, but the CIA refused to discuss any details with lawmakers.

Democrats, critical of the searches that have thus far proved to be fruitless, questioned President Bush's reasons for ordering the U.S.-led invasion.

"There was no imminent danger, and we should never have gone to war," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

CIA adviser David Kay, who is serving as a special adviser for the weapons search, told lawmakers on Thursday that inspectors have found physical evidence of Iraqi activity on weapons of mass destruction. Without offering any detail, he said investigators had made a "tactical and strategic decision" to focus on biological rather than on chemical or nuclear programs.

"Those are the areas that we're principally talking about progress," he said.

The Senate Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, expressed concern that the searches are being diverted away from finding actual weapons.

"Signs of a weapons program are very different than the stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons that were a certainty before the war," Rockefeller said. "We did not go to war to disrupt Saddam's weapons program, we went to disarm him."

"It's looking more and more like a case of mass deception," Kennedy said after Kay briefed the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Those concerns surfaced as the Bush administration approved payment of $30 million to the informant who helped troops find Saddam Hussein's two sons, the largest reward ever made under a U.S. program.

"It's actually for services rendered," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "It's a lump sum payment of $30 million."

The informant's tip led to the death of Odai and Qusai Hussein in a firefight July 22 in a villa in Mosul in northern Iraq. For his protection the tipster was not identified by the government.

Secretary of State Colin Powell gave final approval to the award of $15 million each for the sons.

Boucher said the informant had provided the critical piece of information that led to the brothers and "took a risk in what is a very important development."

The reward offered for Saddam is $25 million, and Boucher urged anyone who knows where he is to turn him in.

Kay told reporters after talking in secret to the Senate Armed Services Committee that there was a "truly amazing" deception program to throw U.N. weapons inspectors off the trail.

"We have people who participated in deceiving U.N. inspectors now telling us how they did it," he said.

The U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division is hunting for Saddam with tanks, satellites and flying robots. The soldiers also are using more traditional, low-tech search methods. Patrolling soldiers and interpreters are collecting trips from residents.

Since the death of the sons there has been a surge of tips.

The CIA, meanwhile, has determined the latest audio message purportedly from Saddam - in which he refers to the death of his sons - is most likely authentic, according to a CIA official.

The tape was played on the Al-Arabiya satellite channel, which broadcasts across the Middle East, including Iraq.
2003-08-01 08:20:08 GMT
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