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Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 19. Mars 2013 / Time Line March 19, 2013
Version 3.503/19/2013
The Iraq War Ten Years After
Declassified Documents Show Failed Intelligence, Policy Ad
Hockery, Propaganda-Driven Decisionmaking
National Security Archive Publishes "Essential" Primary Sources on
Operation Iraqi Freedom
National Security Archive Briefing Book No. 418, Edited by Joyce
Battle and Malcolm Byrne
Washington, D.C., March 19, 2013 -- The U.S. invasion of Iraq
turned out to be a textbook case of flawed assumptions,
wrong-headed intelligence, propaganda manipulation, and
administrative ad hockery, according to the National Security
Archive's briefing book of declassified documents posted today to
mark the 10th anniversary of the war.
The Archive's documentary primer includes the famous Downing Street
memo ("intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy"),
the POLO STEP PowerPoint invasion plans (assuming out of existence
any possible insurgency), an FBI interview with Saddam Hussein in
captivity (he said he lied about weapons of mass destruction to
keep Iran guessing and deterred), and the infamous National
Intelligence Estimate about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction
(wrong in its findings, but with every noted dissent turning out to
be accurate).
"These dozen documents provide essential reading for anyone trying
to understand the Iraq war," remarked Joyce Battle, Archive senior
analyst who is compiling a definitive reference collection of
declassified documents on the Iraq War. "At a moment when the
public is debating the costs and consequences of the U.S. invasion,
these primary sources refresh the memory and ground the discussion
with contemporary evidence."
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