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May
19, 2003
John
Chuckman
Blair's Awkward Lies
Elaine
Cassel
Clarence Thomas, Still Whining After All These Years
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Play It Again, O-Sam-a
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17 / 18, 2003
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May
19, 2003
A Letter to Kofi Annan
The Missing
Evidence
by Veteran Intelligence
Professionals for Sanity
The Honorable Kofi Annan,
Secretary General The United Nations
(via fax)
Dear Mr. Secretary General,
We are former intelligence officials who have served many years
at senior levels of the US intelligence community. As the role
of intelligence on Iraq assumed critical importance over the
past several months, we established Veteran Intelligence Professionals
for Sanity (VIPS) as a collegial body to monitor the unfolding
of events. Our first analytic paper was a same-day commentary
on Secretary of State Colin Powell's performance at the UN Security
Council on February 5. Six papers on related subjects have now
been issued, three of which have taken the form of Memoranda
for the President. We have had no response from the White House.
We turn to you now because it has become inescapably clear that
the issue of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq remains a most
urgent one. We see no viable alternative to renewed UN involvement
if this key issue is to be dealt with effectively. This letter
is an appeal to you and Security Council members to pursue that
objective with a renewed sense of urgency.
As we applied the rigorous evidentiary standards of professional
intelligence analysis over recent months, we were inclined to
place reports of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in the "unconfirmed"
category. However, the assertions of President George W. Bush
and his senior advisers were so categorical--and their assurances
so insistent--that it seemed reasonable to assume that they were
in possession of more compelling evidence than that which had
been made public, and that prudence therefore dictated giving
them the benefit of the doubt. In doing so we found ourselves
in step with most Americans, including some who are highly experienced
in these matters--former UN inspectors David Albright and Jonathan
Tucker, for example.
We find it deeply troubling, therefore, that two months after
US and British forces invaded Iraq no weapons of mass destruction
have been found. Statements by those close to the Bush administration
have served to compound the confusion. On April 10, for example,
Defense Policy Board member (and former Deputy US Representative
to the UN), Kenneth Adelman, predicted that such weapons would
be found "pretty soon, in the next five days." He now
concedes that the situation is "very strange," and
suggests that Saddam Hussein may have launched "a massive
disinformation campaign to make the world think he was violating
international norms, and he may not have been."
US Gen. Tommy Franks has said the search for weapons of mass
destruction may take a year. We assume that the international
community will find this unacceptable.
It became painfully obvious in the weeks following the invasion
of Iraq that the US did not know the location of any weapons
of mass destruction. Nor, at the outset, was the US able to pinpoint
and take into custody those Iraqis who do know. This has now
changed. A former chief UN inspector for weapons in Iraq noted
last week that the US now has in custody four top Iraqi officials
who "know exactly what the facts are," adding, "We
need to know what they are saying."
Intelligence analysts rarely confess to being perplexed. We confess.
We are perplexed at the US refusal to permit the return of UN
inspectors to Iraq.
From an intelligence point of view, Washington's decision to
bar the very people with the international mandate, the unique
experience, and the credibility to undertake a serious search
for weapons of mass destruction defies logic. UN inspectors know
Iraq, know the weaponry in question, know the Iraqi scientists/engineers
who have been involved, know how the necessary materials are
procured and processed; in short, they have precisely the expertise
required. Barton Gellman's detailed account of the abortive two-month
search by US forces in Iraq ("Odyssey of Frustration,"
in yesterday's Washington Post) should remove any lingering doubt
that the US needs all the help it can get. We are particularly
troubled by reports of looting and thefts at Iraqi nuclear facilities.
UN prerogatives regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq
offer a way out of this mire. Security Council resolutions requiring
that UN inspectors certify that Iraq is free of such weapons
before economic sanctions can be lifted can continue to play
an important role. Indeed, it would be folly to attempt to resume
normal economic activity while weapons of mass destruction remain
unaccounted for. Just last week the chairman of the US Joint
Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, warned that such weapons
may still be in the hands of Iraqi "special units."
The draft Security Council resolution being promoted by the US,
however, makes no reference to the mandated UN role in weapons
certification. Thus, at the Security Council deliberations this
week, the stakes--for the UN, for the spread of weapons of mass
destruction, for the international community as a whole, and
for the Middle East in particular--could not be higher.
It is understandable that you and other senior UN officials are
unwilling to take at face value the intelligence reporting offered
by the US on Iraq, particularly since the detailed assertions
by Secretary Powell on February 5, by and large, have not withstood
close scrutiny. Particularly distressing to us as intelligence
professionals has been the revelation that some of the most important
evidence cited by Secretary Powell, and by the president himself,
was based on forged documents.
You will agree, certainly, that this is a starkly different state
of affairs than that which obtained during the Cuban missile
crisis 41 years ago. Then war was averted through peaceful means
partly because of widespread trust in the integrity of US intelligence
collection and analysis. Trust is a fragile commodity. The success
of diplomacy leans heavily on it. If trust is squandered, all
suffer.
Today, as veteran intelligence officials, we cannot stand by
in silence as US credibility is in danger of being frittered
away. This will be the inevitable result if previous US government
assertions based on "solid intelligence" concerning
the existence of serviceable weapons of mass destruction in Iraq
remain without credible substantiation.
Only the return of UN inspectors to Iraq can determine on behalf
of the entire international community the credibility of the
intelligence upon which the US/UK invasion of Iraq was based.
Accordingly, we strongly encourage you to continue working toward
that end. The restoration of an internationally sanctioned inspection
and verification regime would be a giant step toward resolving
lingering ambiguities. Equally important, it would ensure a stable
foundation for the security of the next government in Iraq.
We have found it somewhat awkward to write you in this vein,
but the urgency of the situation leaves us no alternative. We
take no joy in sharing our confusion over our government's policies.
We appreciate your efforts and those of other member states to
carry out the UN's mandate on Iraq and to assert UN prerogatives.
The long-term credibility and role of the UN will be strengthened
as you redouble your efforts to meet this formidable challenge.
We shall fax copies of this letter to the current members of
the Security Council, including the US delegation.
Respectfully yours,
Kathleen McGrath Christison, Santa Fe, NM
William Christison, Santa Fe, NM
David MacMichael, Linden, VA
Raymond McGovern, Arlington, VA
Steering Group Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
The VIPS can be reached at: vips@counterpunch.org
Today's
Features
Leah
Wells
In Iraq Water and Oil Do Mix
Ben Tripp
Fear Itself
Sharon
Smith
The Resegregation of US Schools
Ramzy Baroud
Does Defeat Have to be So Humiliating?
Sam
Hamod
A Nation of Fear
Phil Reeves
Baghdad Pays the Price
Robert
McChesney
The FCC's Big Grab
Mark Engler
Those Who Don't Count
Steve
Perry
We're All
Extras in Bush's Movie
Website
of the Day
Iraq and Our
Energy Future
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