LNS readers knew of Greig Thielmann months ago (it's
not just Joseph Wilson) when his name was scrawled on
the John O'Neill Wall of Heroes for resigning from
Calm 'Em Powell's US State Dept. and speaking out
against the _resident's foolish military adventure in
Iraq. Well, SeeBs has finally discovered him, and will
broadcast an interview with him on 60 Minutes. Better
late than never I suppose, better after hundreds of US
soldiers have died for naught than after thousands or
tens of thousands die...Meanwhile, in the Middle East,
the fallout from the _resident's disasterous
capitulation to Sharon has brought a new bitter fruit.
Never in all the history of this sad conflict have US
citizens been targeted for terrorist attacks in
Palestine (although they have been killed by Israeli
tanks), but this morning at least three Americans were
killed. This very bad turn of events highlights the
Bush cabal's utter contempt for the role of fair
broker that has been the patient, principled stand of
every prior US administraion, including his
father's...Our position in the world is deteriorating
on daily basis as a result of the _resident ne-con wet
dreams...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/14/60II/main577975.shtml--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ex-Aide: Powell Misled Americans
Oct. 15, 2003
The person responsible for analyzing the Iraqi weapons
threat for Colin Powell says the Secretary of State
misinformed Americans during his speech at the U.N.
last winter.
Greg Thielmann tells Correspondent Scott Pelley that
at the time of Powell’s speech, Iraq didn’t pose an
imminent threat to anyone – not even its own
neighbors. “…I think my conclusion [about Powell’s
speech] now is that it’s probably one of the low
points in his long distinguished service to the
nation,” says Thielmann.
Pelley’s report will be broadcast on 60 Minutes II,
Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Thielmann also tells Pelley that he believes the
decision to go to war was made first and then the
intelligence was interpreted to fit that conclusion.
“…The main problem was that the senior administration
officials have what I call faith-based intelligence,”
says Thielmann.
“They knew what they wanted the intelligence to show.
They were really blind and deaf to any kind of
countervailing information the intelligence community
would produce. I would assign some blame to the
intelligence community and most of the blame to the
senior administration officials.”
Steve Allinson and a dozen other U.N. inspectors in
Iraq also watched Powell’s speech. “Various people
would laugh at various times [during Powell’s speech]
because the information he was presenting was just,
you know, didn't mean anything -- had no meaning,”
says Allinson.
Pelley asks, “When the Secretary finished the speech,
you and the other inspectors turned to each other and
said what?” Allinson responds, “’They have nothing.’”
Allinson gives Pelley several examples of why he
believes Iraq didn’t have weapons of mass destruction.
One time, he was sent to find decontamination vehicles
that turned out to be fire trucks. Another time, a
satellite spotted what they thought were trucks used
for biological weapons.
“We were told we were going to the site to look for
refrigerated trucks specifically linked to biological
agents,” Allinson tells Pelley. “…We found seven or
eight [trucks], I think, in total, and they had
cobwebs in them. Some samples were taken and nothing
was found.”
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