(2006-02-13) Pillar Iraq Intelligence Cherry Picking

Retired CIA official Paul Pillar says "Official intelligence on Iraqi (War On Iraq) weapons programs was flawed, but even with its flaws, it was not what led to the war," Pillar wrote in the upcoming issue of the journal Foreign Affairs. Instead, he asserted, the administration "went to war without requesting - and evidently without being influenced by - any strategic-level intelligence assessments on any aspect of Iraq."