Al-Qaeda suspect misled US
2005-11-06 14:06
Washington - A top al-Qaeda member in US custody was identified as a likely fabricator months before the Bush administration began to use his statements as the base for its claims that Iraq trained al-Qaeda members to use biological and chemical arms, The New York Times reported Sunday.
Citing newly declassified portions of a defence intelligence agency document, the Times report referred to a February 2002 intelligence report saying that "it was probable that the prisoner, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, 'was intentionally misleading the debriefers'" in making claims about Iraqi support for al-Qaedas work with illicit weapons.
"The document provides the earliest and strongest indication of doubts voiced by American intelligence agencies about Mr. Libis credibility.
"Without mentioning him by name, President (George W) Bush, vice president Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, then secretary of state, and other administration officials repeatedly cited Mr. Libis information as credible evidence that Iraq was training al-Qaeda members in the use of explosives and illicit weapons," the newspaper added.
"Among the first and most prominent assertions was one by Mr. Bush, who said in a major speech in Cincinnati in October 2002 that 'weve learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb making and poisons and gases,'" the paper said.
The newly declassified portions of the document were made available by Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, according to the Times.