Pre-war estimates of Saddam Hussein's armament were incorrect and unjustified, considering the facts known then, a highly critical U.S. Senate report indicates.
The committee's chairman, Republican Pat Roberts, slammed CIA conclusions drawn before the war about the threat posed by Mr. Hussein's supposed arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.
“Today we know these assessments were wrong. ... They were also unreasonable and unsupported,” he told reporters in Washington on Friday.
He pulled no punches in his criticism, saying that the intelligence failure was “one of the most devastating” in U.S. history.
The report comes more than a year after the United States led a multinational force into Iraq to topple Mr. Hussein. The ostensible reason for the war – cited repeatedly by U.S. President George W. Bush – was the threat that weapons of mass destruction could pose in the hands of a dictator who hated the United States and had waged aggressive war in the past.
No such weapons have been found in Iraq. As the months passed, optimism among those backing the war has waned.
In recent weeks British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who sent thousands of troops to Iraq, acknowledged that these weapons, if they still exist, may never be found.
Former CIA director George Tenet resigned last month. He leaves office this week.
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