Scientist says US censored Iraq WMD report

[Minstrel Boy]

Scientist says US censored Iraq WMD report

February 15, 2005

CANBERRA: An Australian scientist involved in the US search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq said the CIA censored his reporting so that it suggested the weapons existed, according to an interview on Monday.

Rod Barton, a microbiologist who worked for Australian intelligence for more than 20 years, told Australian Broadcasting Corp television’s “Four Corners” public affairs programme he quit the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) in disgust at the censorship of its interim report presented to the US Congress in March last year.

...

“We left the impression that, yes, maybe there were ... WMD out there,” Barton said. “So I thought it was dishonest.” Barton, an experienced weapons hunter who joined the UN search for Saddam Hussein’s illicit arsenal in 1991, said the censorship in the US investigation began after Charles Duelfer became the new head of ISG in February 2004.

Barton said Duelfer wanted “a different style of report altogether” which he had discussed with US President George W Bush and the CIA.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_15-2-2005_pg4_2

[candy331]

1. Now why am I not surprised about this and why do people always

show up to speak after the damage has been done.

[sellitman]

2. bush the lesser LIED.

Why can't anyone just call him a liar? Censored...yes but lied about it is more accurate.

[Carl Brennan]

3. This sounds like another case of

intelligence manufacturing

US and Brits "created Intelligence"--Blix: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x382860
The United States and Britain “created facts where there were no facts” in the run-up to last year’s war in Iraq, the former head of the United Nations’ weapons inspections team in the country said in an interview published on Tuesday.

[flyarm]

16. now how many dead microbiologists are there ??

sounds like thi sguy has caught on..if you want to live ..out the story..and save your hide...i know well over a year ago there were at lease 44 dead microbiologists...how many now?? anyone have any idea??




http://www.sundayherald.com/print40096

i know i know this is rense..but it has names of dead microbiologists!! from my old files!

http://www.rense.com/general48/moredead.htm

[magellan]

4. It doesn't matter whether insiders speak up before or after

Bushies never see the truth.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Dupe - delete

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. I guess this fellow didn't get the memo

that microbiolgists who speak out, can have a direct impact on their life expectancy. I hope he doesn't like to go for long walks alone.

[cthrumatrix]

8. look for Faux to change their cheerleading & go after shrub --- not.

[Supersedeas]

9. do you see a suicide, freak traffic accident, or random unsolved murder in

his future...

[EFerrari]

7. Still harping on daughters? -- Lear

You'd think all the deals were done and over with.

Spare me your lame excuses and your irresponsible guilt.

You were complicit. Live with it, if you're able.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

10. Hmm. Does killing David Kelly count as 'censorship'?...n/t

[V Lee]

11. Lies, censorship, and deceit. Just another day in Bushland! eom

[etherealtruth]

12. The entire world accepts that Bush lied...

Will the U.S. masses ever admit it? This troubles me even more than the the pure evil (or is it lunacy? Both?) of the current administration. I don't think our country is evil------But I sure as hell can see why others see us that way.

[Phoebe_in_Sydney]

13. I saw the documentary

... it was very powerful.

I actually came here to DU immediately after watching the show and wanted to post something to the Breaking News section -- but there seemed to be more rules than cricket and, as a relative newbie, I was a bit uncertain how and what I should post.

Glad the news filtered through -- although I bet they never show you guys this documentary in the US.

The man was extremely credible and incredibly pissed off about the number of lies told about WMD in Iraq.

He admitted that he himself originally believed Saddam probably had WMD -- he'd been an inpsector with UNMOVIC in the late 90s. But, he said he now had to admit he'd been totally wrong and was horrified that some people within the CIA and the US government were still trying to suggest there was a chance that the weapons would still be found. Not only were there NONE, he said there was not a scrap of evidence to suggest Saddam even had programs to plan development of WMD.

The article linked above seems inaccurate in that the header says "former spy claims Australian government covered up Iraq prisoner abuse."

I don't believe Barton was a spy, he was a scientist -- although he claimed (as I'm sure many of you have heard before) that UNMOVIC were spying for the US while working for the United Nations inspecting Iraq's weapons in the 90s. That was why the weapons inspectors had to get out in 1998.

He went back to Iraq firstly to work for David Kay's Iraq Survey Group and then under Duelfer. He said they were told to leave out inconvenient facts from their reports, they had to fight to have inaccurate information from being added to their reports and he's amazed that some of the stories (like the WMD ready to launch in 45 minutes, and the alleged trailers with biological weapons) ever got any airing at all because they were never backed by any evidence. He says there are still people in the CIA and in Washington who are suggesting WMD could still be found, and that Saddam was at least in the process of trying to attain them.

He did allege that he'd seen evidence of prisoner abuse at a place called Camp Cropper. He says that's where the "high value detainees" were being held i.e. people suspected of working on weapons programs. He asked why these people continue to be held in prison considering it's now absolutely clear there were no WMD, or programs to create them. He said he knows of at least one Iraqi scientist who died in that prison. His death was orignally reported to be from a brain tumour, but Barton later found out he'd been bashed and had head injuries and facial fractures when he died.

He did report suspected prisoner abuse to the Australian government, who proceeded to ignore his information and subsequently insisted they had no knowledge of prisoner abuse in Iraq prior to the Abu Graib pics being released.

Our government is so beholden to covering your government's ass (and by association, its own) I can't tell you how appalled I am. Of course, most Aussies wouldn't have bothered watching this program -- they don't want to know the uncomfortable truth about Iraq any more than Americans do.

I really wish the US corporate media would have the guts to show this "Four Corners" documentary. It was done by our BBC equivalent -- the ABC. People will tell you government subsidised media can't possibly be a good thing -- and yet the BBC and the ABC tell much more of the truth than any of your corporate whore organisations in the USA.

We all been lied to, shamelessly and systematically. And the lies continue. I don't know how loudly we all have to scream for anyone to care. We invaded a country, destroyed its infrastructure and killed hundreds of thousands of people all based on an outright fraud.

[forintegrity]

14. when do we start

impeachment proceedings?

HOW MUCH MORE EVIDENCE DO WE NEED AND WHEN DOES THIE INSANITY STOP?

[Chipper Chat]

15. Look not for this story on Faux, MSGOP, CNN (C No News), etc:

Even PBS shies away from controversy anymore (or dest their last crumbs of financing from USB (United Satantes of Bush) will be dispatched.
Dan Rather might have a nose for it (oops wait - I forgot his balls were cut off).

[Dr Fate]

17. Who is stopping Hillary, Kerry, Dean & Obama from talking about it on TV?

At some point we all need to accept the fact that the media is pro-Bush, and go to the next step- which is focusing on getting issues & talking points that the media ignores out there on TV ourselves...

We need to stop using "the media" as our catch-all excuse...and start improvising and coming up with new ways to manipulate THEM for a change...

[theresistance]

18. I posted a story the night of the screeing

See http://www.freedomliberationmovement.com/cms/article280.html

Barton also proved that the Aust government lied about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners...

[FreeTheUSA]

19. Gotta love William Safire et al

2 years ago, they go from "Invading Iraq to protect our freedoms in this quick war" to presently "Invading Iraq to protect THEIR freedoms in a LONG and bloody war".

[Resin]

20. Dead Meat

I feel sorry for this microbiologist. This never ends well...