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INTRODUCTION: Yesterday the Washington Post broke yet another story apparently catching U.S. President George Bush in a lie. This time in a direct, conscious and often repeated lie over the discovery of WMDs in Iraq in the form of "biolab" biological weapons mobile laboratories. The White House has today responded angrily and aggressively with a statement accusing the Washington Post of "recklessness" (See… " The Washington Post's Reckless Reporting On WMD Claims" & Press Briefing by Scott McClellan April 12, 2006) - The Scoop Editor.

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Lacking Biolabs, Trailers Carried Case for War

Administration pushed notion of banned Iraqi weapons despite evidence to contrary
By Joby Warrick
The Washington Post
Wednesday 12 April 2006

SEE FULL STORY HERE:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/11/AR2006041101888_pf.html
Or
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041206Z.shtml

On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. 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.

A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq - not made public until now - had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president's statement.

The three-page field report and a 122-page final report three weeks later were stamped "secret" and shelved. Meanwhile, for nearly a year, administration and intelligence officials continued to publicly assert that the trailers were weapons factories.

The authors of the reports were nine U.S. and British civilian experts - scientists and engineers with extensive experience in all the technical fields involved in making bioweapons - who were dispatched to Baghdad by the Defense Intelligence Agency for an analysis of the trailers. Their actions and findings were described to a Washington Post reporter in interviews with six government officials and weapons experts who participated in the mission or had direct knowledge of it.

SEE FULL STORY HERE:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/11/AR2006041101888_pf.html
Or
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041206Z.shtml

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Lacking biolabs, trailers carried case for war

White House pushed Iraq bioweapons claim despite evidence to contrary

"On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. 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.

A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq -- not made public until now -- had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president's statement"

SEE FULL STORY HERE:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12275328

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DEAN CALLS FOR DECLASSIFICATION RE WASHPOST PIECE.

DNC Chairman Howard Dean this morning called on the Bush administration to declassify a 2003 Defense Intelligence Agency-sponsored report that undercuts a key administration claim about Saddam Hussein-era Iraqi weapons. As reported in this morning’s Washington Post, the DIA sent a team of experts to Iraq in May 2003 to examine trailers that were suspected of carrying equipment needed to make biological weapons. The team determined that the trailers did not contain such material, and reported that finding to Washington on May 27, 2003. Two days later, President Bush said, “We have found the weapons of mass destruction.”

SEE FULL STORY HERE:
http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2006/04/index.html#009807

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UPDATE: White House Demands Apology for 'Mobile Labs' Scoop

By E&P Staff
Published: April 12, 2006 3:50 PM ET updated 5:45 PM

NEW YORK The White House on Wednesday hit back at The Washington Post for its front-page story this morning which suggested President Bush in 2003 cited the discovery of mobile biological weapons labs in Iraq as "weapons of mass destruction" while knowing it was not true.

Press Secretary Scott McClellan called the account "reckless reporting" and asked media outlets who carried it to apologize. He said Bush made his statement based on multiple sources.

On May 29, 2003, Bush said, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction,” after the finding of the mobile labs. However, the Post today said a Pentagon-sponsored fact-finding mission had already concluded and submitted a report finding that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons.

McClellan said the Post story was "nothing more than rehashing an old issue that was resolved long ago. " He singled out ABC for featuring report. "This is reckless reporting and for you all to go on the air this morning and make such a charge is irresponsible, and I hope that ABC would apologize for it and make a correction on the air," he said.

SEE FULL STORY HERE:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002343371

ENDS

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