45 Minute Claims Had No Support
NewsMax Wires
Monday, July 21, 2003
WASHINGTON -- The White House did not seek CIA approval before charging that Saddam Hussein could launch a biological or chemical attack within 45 minutes.
The claim was made twice by President Bush in a September Rose Garden appearance and in a radio address. It has since been discredited.
According to Sunday's Washington Post, a senior White House official did not dispute that the CIA was not consulted about the "45-minute" claim. The official said radio addresses are typically "circulated at staff level" within the White House only.
The 45-minute claim is at the center of a controversy in Britain. It may have led to the apparent suicide of a British arms expert who allegedly told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the government had "sexed up" the Iraq dossier.
The Post reported that examination of other assertions in the president's speeches also reveals another phrase disputed in the intelligence community, that "there are al-Qaida terrorists inside Iraq."
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Copyright 2003 by United Press International.
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