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# Posted 7:12 PM by Ariel David Adesnik

DID ZINNI KNOW OUR INTELLIGENCE WAS BAD? An interesting moment from Meet the Press:

MR. RUSSERT: I want to bring you back to August 26, 2002. The Veterans of Foreign War had a convention, a meeting. Vice President Cheney was the guest speaker. You were honored, as you can see the medal around your neck there. This is what the vice president said on that day.

(Videotape, August 26, 2002) VICE PRES. DICK CHENEY: Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is not doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies and against us. (End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: After that event, The Washington Post captured your thinking in a conversation with you. “Cheney’s certitude bewildered [retired General Tony] Zinni. ... ‘In my time at CENTCOM, I watched the intelligence, and never - not once - did it say, “He has WMD.”’ Though retired for nearly two years, Zinni says, he remained current on the intelligence through his consulting with the CIA and the military. ‘I did consulting work for the agency, right up to the beginning of the war. I never saw anything. I’d say to analysts, “Where’s the threat?”’ Their response, he recalls, was, ‘Silence.’ Zinni’s concern deepened as Cheney pressed on. ...

Perhaps if I spent more time reading Kos & Co., I would already know about Zinni's prescience. Although take note of Zinni's comment yesterday morning that "I’d be the first to say we had to assume [Saddam] had WMD left over that wasn’t accounted for: artillery rounds, chemical rounds, a SCUD missile or two."

The way Russert told the story, he made it sound as if Zinni had talked to the Post before the invasion of Iraq. Is that correct? Does any one know when the story came out? I'm curious.

(8) opinions -- Add your opinion

Comments:

Was the intel. bad? Does anyone know where the WMD's ended up if they even existed? Would it suprise anyone if the CIA knew that WMD existed, didn't have a clue where it was and decided to tell the public there was no problem to begin with?

# posted by

Anonymous : 11:36 PM

The report is from WaPo 23 Dec 2003, here. The quote includes the words "I did consulting work for the agency, right up to the beginning of the war." which indicates that it is post-invasion.

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:07 AM

Much obliged for the research, Anon. The link isn't working for me at the moment, but with a firm date like 23 Dec 2003, it should be easy to get a hold of the article elsewhere.

# posted by

Ariel David Adesnik : 12:17 AM

Yes, the html writer seems to have changed a character. If you paste this in the browser

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A22922-2003Dec22¬Found=true

it might work.

# posted by

Anonymous : 2:42 AM

NinjaDude raises the BS flag on this one...

# posted by

Anonymous : 4:12 AM

Zinni at Cooperative Research

# posted by

W2JIG : 8:50 AM

I get a little sick of these comments. So every intelligence agency in the world was wrong. Maybe so. But they all thought Iraq had WMD. Not only intel but most countries agreed that he had the WMD. They just disagreed on the options.

But Zinni's contacts at "the agency". Were these the same contacts who sent Wilson to Africa.

So Bush should listen not to the whole world saying Iraq had WMD, including our intel (Except Zinni's contacts), but some who said Iraq did not.

Zinni is a shill for the Dems, plain and simple.

In Australia we have a saying "Bullshit baffles brains any time".

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:28 PM

PS:

It is my understanding that Zinni was the guy who ordered the navy to keep using Yemen as a refueling stop after warnings were received of a possible suicide attack.

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:30 PM