CIA posts rare rebuttal to Iraq accusations

WASHINGTON -- In an almost unprecedented act, the Central Intelligence Agency has released a detailed rebuttal to assertions made by author Ron Suskin, in his new book "The Way of the World," that President Bush ordered former CIA Director George Tenet to fabricate evidence that Saddam Hussein was cooperating with al-Qa'ida to plan attacks against the United States.

The Schadenfreude Post has no additional information on Suskin's assertions but the accusations appear odd, in light of the fact that CIA consistently provided more cautious analyses of Iraq and it alleged connection to terrorism. In fact, civilian neo-conservative analysts working out of the Pentagon frequently clashed with the CIA because the agency refused to distort data to infer WMD and terrorism links with Iraq. Anything is possible, but TSP cautions that more needs to known before we blame CIA for acts that another organization or group might have undertaken.