Congress Opens New Front In Iraq-War Probe

Congress is beginning an investigation on the Bush Administration and the flawed intelligence that came out of it.

Jay Solomon of the Wall street Journal writes:

President Bush has been criticized for relying too heavily on flawed intelligence to justify invading Iraq. Now, congressional investigators are looking at whether the administration underplayed prewar analysis that was correct in forecasting the post-Saddam chaos that currently engulfs the country.

"During the run-up to the war, the intelligence community produced dozens of assessments explaining the range of problems that could develop in postwar Iraq," says Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia, a Democrat and vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is currently probing the development and use of intelligence in the months leading up the March 2003 invasion. "This is an area… regrettably, where the administration paid little attention," he adds.

Mr. Rockefeller and other critics say the U.S. would have been better-prepared to rehabilitate Iraq if it had listened more to these warnings. In particular, the State Department in 2002 conducted an exhaustive survey called the Future of Iraq Project. The endeavor involved 17 federal agencies and hundreds of Iraqis, both inside and outside Iraq. The $5 million project produced volumes of research that its authors hoped would serve as a blueprint for remodeling Iraq. The volumes were never made public but have been reviewed by the committee.

The Senate report on White House use of prewar intelligence is expected to be completed early next year.

Continue the story here:
WSJ.com - Congress Opens New Front In Iraq-War Probe