A U.S. Senate report today directly accused the Bush administration of distorting evidence to justify the war in Iraq. The Intelligence Committee's long-delayed report echoed similar charges made in recent years. The committee said President Bush and top aides exaggerated links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida. And it said they ignored doubts by U.S. intelligence agencies about Iraq's weapons capabilities.The Democratic chairman, Senator John Rockefeller of West Virginia, underlined the importance of the findings. "You don't get to tell the truth just some of the time when going to war. The American people expect the government to tell the truth all the time. In too many instances in making the case for war, administration officials distorted the facts or said things that were not supported by the facts, said things that they knew or should have known were not true."
Republicans charged the Democrats on the committee were playing partisan gamesmanship. Senator Kit Bond of Missouri insisted faulty intelligence, not the administration itself, was to blame."The report released today by the majority is an attempt by my friends on the other side of the aisle to score election-year points. Even with the majority-only drafted report that twists the statements of policymakers and cherry-picks the intelligence, the report essentially validates what we've been saying for years, that the intelligence was flawed. The majority consistently leaves that out of their conclusions."
