Two days before the President made a public statement claiming that two captured Iraqi trailers were mobile trailers were proof of a bio-weapon program, he was informed that they, in fact, had nothing to do with bio-weapons.
Information released today show that a team of experts from the pentagon examined the "labs" and determined that they had no relation to bio-weapons. They relayed this information to the pentagon on May, 27th, 2003.
On May 29th, 2003, Bush stood in front of the American people and claimed that:
Two small trailers captured by U.S. and Kurdish troops had turned out to be long-sought mobile "biological laboratories." He declared, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction."
The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was hailed at the time as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.
While the team was inspecting and dissecting the facilities and determining that while they were not 100% certain of the purpose, only that it had nothing to do with bio-weapons, the CIA at home was already preparing white papers claiming it was the smoking gun.
After the teams return to the US, pentagon officials asked team members if they could "soften" there report, leaving open the possibility that it was a mobile weapons lab. When the team refused, the report was shelved, and the administration continued putting forth false information.
The report itself is still classified. Something tells me that there will be no "leaking" of it to the press even though it would be in the "public interest to know the truth."
Lacking Biolabs, Trailers Carried Case for War
White House Shelved Iraqi Trailers Report
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