if you just joined us for a welcome this is all to live in moscow top stories this hour at half past the hour it's really it begins crisis talks of the e.u. over its mounting debt problems sparking concerns it could be on the path to a priest. meanwhile strains prime minister delays is vacations and once and worsening fiscal crisis in his country. egypt's to pose an ailing president hosni mubarak goes on trial in color on charges of corruption and killing protesters in

febreze uprising meantime though a fatal clashes today outside the court between his supporters and opponents. of the u.n. security council is divided over syria western countries outright condemnation of the syrian government for fun and small russia says that could damage the road to peace and calls for more. with more on their stories in less than half an hour for you. in a special report on the u.s. led invasion of iraq almost a decade ago and a blow by blow account of the war that followed that special report next on.

say now has weapons of mass destruction weapons of mass destruction that the united states from its doesn't propose to pay to sponsor and sheltered terrorists trained suicide bomber weapons or he try a logical weapons including anthrax and botulism toxin a logical and chemical agent to kill millions of people chemical weapons growing v.x. and sarin mustard gas and massive and sudden heart massive death and destruction and death on a massive scale the danger to our country is great if the danger to our country is growing the iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons iraqi regime is building the facilities necessary to make more biological and chemical weapons. and according to the british government iraqi regime could launch

a biological or chemical attack in as little as forty five minutes after the order were given the regime has longstanding and continuing ties to terrorist organizations and there are al qaeda terrorists inside iraq regime is seeking a nuclear bomb and with physical fissile material could build one within a year. the bush administration made up its mind to go to war on september the eleventh two thousand and one that very first day on september twelfth one day after september eleventh. the meeting that was held in the white house in the situation room. led to rumsfeld asking the question should we use this as an opportunity to do something about iraq as well we all said but no no

as in afghanistan we need to bomb afghanistan rumsfeld said there aren't any good targets in afghanistan and there are lots of good targets in iraq from that time on you were dealing with rationalization and justification for the war you weren't dealing with the real causes for the war or real reasons for the war there was never a clear and present danger there was never an imminent threat with weapons of mass destruction weapons of mass destruction weapons of mass death and weapons of mass destruction was a convenient way of tricking our congress and to giving the president authority to wage this war saddam has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons develop nuclear weapons nuclear weapons it was clear that iraq did not have a nuclear weapons program but over and over again president bush secretary of defense rumsfeld particularly vice president cheney but also national security advisor condi rice drummed up the idea of

a reconstituted nuclear capability and pitched particularly the notion that i think has some resonance among the american people of the mushroom cloud leaders will use worst case assessments are they point to nuclear weapons to generate political score because they know people fear nuclear weapons so much the evidence was simply not there. wolfowitz would be asked to explain you know how good is the evidence can you tell us more about it this in nato mind you and you'd say well it's like this it's so i cannot graphy. hard to describe but i'll keep you recognize it when you see it. white guy and we're going to go to war and that if someone is waiting for a so-called smoking gun it's certain that we will have waited too long we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud and we cannot wait for the final proof. the smoking gun. that

could come in the form of a mushroom but. a lot of people who supported the war in iraq actually believe that iraq had it billet easy to fire a missile that could reach the united states carrying payloads of nuclear or chemical or biological weapons. iraq has never had the capability to do that they didn't have it in the first gulf war they didn't have it in this. war in iraq and they don't have it in any way of getting it in the future but the bush administration did was try to round up as many people as they could make the case for thought the white house wanted cia to give it to talking points to justify to support already made up its mind massive intervention by people particularly from vice president cheney's office and vice president cheney himself in the process and i think the intelligence analysts found themselves really up against it when they tried to argue that those connections were as tight as and people were suggesting intelligence director of the department of energy simply ordered his

experts who had raised questions about the evidence being used on the nuclear and of it as accounts say just sit down and shut up so the we would be on board with the with the overall estimate they were not just. because it was chief of collecting information on iraq and it's in the mid ninety's i know what we had what we didn't have and i'm here to tell you there was no information and very heavy leaning on the director of central intelligence and his staff to produce precisely the language which would allow them to make the statements we stay have been making to support the decision to go into iraq not only by to physical presence to by the questions they asked by the people don't you think sort of things could it be possible that they call it data mining going back over old

information coming questions and the overwhelming opinion from the scientists discovered at the department of energy and even at the cia and some of the state department were arguing against using weapons of mass destruction. there's a case to go to war the whole purpose of the cia was to leave those people out of langley that's why they're not in washington or in order to produce away from the white house away from congress leave them alone ask them what they think but don't tell them to rethink their positions because then you come up with nonsense like what did ministration have decided very early on that saddam should go and that in itself is not a bad. goal but of course everything depends on how you do it when and how where with whom it said or to lay in decision in an action could leave to a massive and sudden heart it simply makes no sense to wait any longer to take action before it's too late we will not wait it was a rushed and it was done and i believe in three or four weeks which is really fast

for that. it wasn't done earlier from what i understand because the bush administration didn't want such a document that had care of yachts that's why they never asked for a comprehensive national intelligence estimate within the intelligence community on this particular problem because they knew the intelligence community didn't agree on any of these issues and national intelligence estimate is really about i don't know five major players for ten intelligence agencies in total weighing in on the basic situation with weapons of mass destruction and so i think the bush administration resisted having an eye and then once it was out selectively picked what was useful to their argument. most of their qualifications were simply filtered out the senate is ation of the original estimate was not true to its real meaning all the modifiers were were dropped out it was a prosecutor making a case using what benefited his case ignoring evidence that would undermine his

case and there was no defense attorney to give us the other side and the end product used by policymakers particularly in its discussion with the the american public with were much more forceful than could have possibly been when originally written by cia dia or state department's intelligence and research it was a bizarre warping of the intelligence process and they thought they would be able to get away with it because who's going to see the classified version well later several months later they released parts of the classified variant they thought no one would notice so this was not a case where the national intelligence estimate was driving the war this was to provide an excuse after the fact going to war based on intelligence is yet another example i beg of intelligence simply not being able by nature by definition to live up to that kind of requirement you may produce intelligence that could keep you out

of a war but i doubt that you'll ever get one to three reports of intelligence that will in any way. allow you to go to war. there are al qaeda in iraq saddam hussein. cohorts with terrorist secretly and without fingerprints he could provide want to be seen weapons to terrorists. help them develop them well the war really had absolutely nothing to do with terrorism there was no connection whatsoever between iraq and the secular regime there and the religious fanatics who perpetrated on love and i wanted to believe that there was a connection but the cia was sitting there the f.b.i. was sitting there i was sitting there saying we've looked the decision for year for years we've looked for a connection let's there's no connection saddam wasn't. or oh he was

a terrible feeling yes but he was not willing to sacrifice his own life. just that he answers terrorists completely antithetical he's the outsider has had total contempt for saddam hussein himself he's been a socialist he's been very harsh he's treated islamic leaders sly misleaders extremely harshly rock and we have comparing good intelligence on this was not part of the picture of terrorism before we get invaded saddam hussein and bin laden were enemies and ladan considered and said that saddam hussein was the socialist infidel these were very different kinds of individuals competing for power in their own way and saddam hussein made very sure that al qaida couldn't function. in iraq that terrorists couldn't function except for the small northeastern quadrant of the country where there was an extremist group but he had no control over that it was

near the iranian border ties with al qaeda it was just a scare tactic to exploit the trauma the very real trauma that the american people have felt ever since nine eleven and to associate better with iraq as you know from the polls most americans believe that iraq had something to do with nine eleven and it was a very successful very deliberate and very. unethical and immoral operation on the part of the p.r. people of this administration. we now know. that saddam has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. among other sources we've gotten this from first hand testimony from defectors accessed emigres and defectors with more direct access to these programs three iraqi defectors we know that iraq in the late one nine hundred ninety s. had several mobile biological weapons listen only after defectors told us about it

the inspectors were in the country the most important information that inspectors have ever gotten what's going on in iraq have come from defectors know about that capability from defectors and others the recent defector stated that as recently as august of ninety eight that's what inspections were still going on a formal order was issued to proceed with the nuclear program at full lights out so i think it is to bring to the world the danger that's about causes and his current state. he is developing weapons of mass destruction. without a doubt he has chemical and biological weapons and without a doubt for thirty years he has been trying to acquire a nuclear weapon the usual scrutiny of these kind of guys was just not done adequately if there was this attitude of let's find a smoking gun let's find the evidence rather than let's let's look at what's out there and weigh the evidence they want to believe him it goes back to contacts that

ridge unaided is only as the one nine hundred ninety s. with individuals like dick cheney like paul wolfowitz like richard perle dealing with iraq mentality the became enamored of this fellow who dressed like a westerner talked with a british accent and appeared to be upper crust and therefore was quite believable and everyone in washington was believing them and i thought people had really somehow checked out of reality in order to go to war and it was a war fever they had taken over these people wanted to get back into it into baghdad they couldn't defeat saddam hussein but they knew that u.s. military power could so the worst of these offenders it would be ahmed chalabi who been in exile for his own country for twenty to thirty years and is clearly not a hero under any definition of heroism to his own people sold the pentagon on the idea that saddam hussein did have weapons of mass destruction and he must be stopped but they were bringing forward end of

a jewels who they claimed rather high level military or scientists with access they were looking for money first of august shall be was paying money the senior members of the department of defense gave him their thumbs up his information was coming into the white house to people like dick cheney through the office of special plans so it was coming in through and through an avenue that's not traditional so the intelligence community and wasn't open to being vetted or reviewed and you had challenged himself admit that and he did they didn't mind providing false information because it helped them to achieve their goal of removing saddam no but . in iraq will defend that regime including the military both the regular army and the republican guard our liberation would not have been achieved without the determination of president george w. bush and the commitment of the coalition at the forefront of which stand people of the united states of america and great britain that iraq is will never forget your

courage and sacrifice on our behalf we are here today to declare that the new iraq is war and iraq would dignity justice and human rights and i sure thought all citizen there is no risk of a breakup of iraq and there is no risk. a civil war i got what i want i got my war back in iraq and if you people relied on my information stupid. every year. custom we meet here to consider the state of the union this year we gather in this chamber deeply aware of decisive days that lie ahead distorted beliefs estimates and guesstimates and he appears and he was misleading

the public and the congress saddam hussein had the materials to produce as much as five hundred tons of sand mustard and v.x. nerve agent sarin but they were making in one thousand nine hundred ninety one had a known shelf life of about two months i have confirmed this with inspectors and analysts who were deeply involved in the one nine hundred ninety s. analyses well if you made twelve years ago and it had a shelf life two months. it may not be safe to drink but it isn't sarah nerve gas any longer and there's no way the agency would not have known u.s. intelligence indicates that saddam hussein had upwards of thirty thousand munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. spector's recently turned up sixteen of them despite iraq's recent declaration. denying their

existence and they tried to use the fact that inspectors found sixteen of these as evidence that thousands more existed and again i mean it's as a methodology it's a very weak way to predict anything and i think it borders on propaganda to argue that there are small number that have been found by inspectors and quieted in this case of twenty nine thousand exist saddam hussein is not accounted for the remaining twenty nine thousand nine hundred eighty four of these prohibited munitions but this way bush administration officials need to retain reset or try to give the impression that if iraq had not fully accounted for all of a certain item and will related to or chemical or biological weapons then it must be there and it's not at all what the inspectors sad or found saddam hussein had material sufficient to produce more than thirty eight thousand liters but human

toxin. enough to subject millions of people to death by respiratory failure. again accounting for the material but it's biological weapons program particularly its ability to make botulinum toxin and therefore it was an open issue but it can't it doesn't mean that they're what the inspectors found was evidence that iraq possessed their intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production i think there was very little doubt that the centrifuge tubes so-called were nothing but rocket motor to go into m eighty one style artillery rockets they certainly have all the specs for the nuclear experts for instance from the lawrence livermore laboratories zenovich and the experts on center fusion richmond came out and said now you couldn't enrich uranium using these and these tubes are not

compatible oh i saw it as a deliberate attempt to take information. aaron selectively take information and try to basically say iraq poses an imminent nuclear threat and therefore action is absolutely necessary and i thought that was absolutely the international atomic energy agency confirmed in the one nine hundred ninety s. that saddam hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program the ministration showed photos of nuclear or former nuclear weapon sites in iraq pretty one nine hundred ninety one nuclear weapons sites claim that new construction showed they were ongoing nuclear weapons production sites complete nonsense the most troubling thing about the fact of the distortions and misleading statements that bush gave congress is that it is a federal felony it's a crime to mislead and distort information and present to the congress the british government has learned that saddam hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from africa just sixteen words in the state of the union address words

that we now know were misleading at retired career diplomat joe wilson tried to warn the administration of the. just that billy a year before the speech i received a call from from the cia in february two thousand and two i was invited out to talk to those people within the broader intelligence community who deal with three different subjects iraq. and the share i briefed and my what i knew about uranium business it was during the course of their briefing that they said that they had received reports that it piqued the interest of the office of the vice president and that report was of a purported memorandum of agreement to rice and sale of uranium yellowcake somewhat in restraining him from the share to to iraq and it was a document that was executed by the government needs fair they asked me if i would

be willing to go out and take another look at it and start people i knew there i left i left there telling them that if they wanted i would be able to free up my schedule they subsequently called me and said please do it's ninety eight. drinking tea and talking to everybody that was to talk to you knew anything about the subject matter. and i'd come back a persuaded that out of half of one from a business perspective because of that with a consortium structured you just couldn't do it and a lot of people knowing and to the way the government bureaucracy was fresher you cannot make the decision without a lot of people knowing and if you made the decision the decision would be reflected in a series of docu series signatures on the on the documents and if the documents are not contain a suit signatures you can up it's senate government and your documents the president quote it a british paper we did not know at the time no one knew at the time in articles maybe someone knew down in the agency but no one in our circles knew that there

were doubts and suspicions that this might be a forgery of course it was information that was mistaken but the it was a relatively small. part of the case about nuclear weapons and clearly constitution it is also the case that the broad picture about iraq's programs was a picture that went very far back in time based on thought analysis value has concluded with the with the concurrence of outside experts that these documents which formed the basis for the reports of peace and unit during implant action between iraq. and in fact not i think numerous french words were misspelled in the documents one of the letters was signed by a nigeria official with left office ten years ago several dates and the documents did not match the day of the week several of the names and titles of officials mentioned the documents were incorrect who was it that asked for this review of the

niger nuclear material question it was the vice president mr wilson former ambassador was sent to niger in response to with vice presidents questions about this issue so assume that really the vice president got a report back in response to his question and that report contained we will send a memo of his assessment the situation wilson says his family is the subject of a smear campaign by senior administration officials they deliberately leaked his wife's i did it he as a covert cia operative damaging her future career in compromising past missions after you criticize the administration on leak the press and in the new york times the white house hatchet came out and started writing started writing articles which they basically said that wilson was the first one came out and said that wilson told the truth because he's a democrat. let's set that up as an argument democrats tell the truth fair go

republicans fill in the blank but then. a couple of senior administration officials leaked to bob novak that my wife was a cia op. involved in the weapons of mass destruction business at the c.s.t. your consideration. he very typically the president vice president cabinet officers and the top of the white house going out of their way to get that information out i'm going to go back to old time magazine it one of the information . that's against a statutory law that prohibits the if occasion a cia operative's what you're doing when you expose a cia officer officer of any name you're basically taking their entire career and flush it down the toilet also as a potential look i see the person in jeopardy because of their operations and their

own operations and people they want written in jeopardy so to say very much will act against the ambassador to try to hurt him by curteous whites but we're if not we root physical but i've never seen a dirty trick that could be a hit present the united states and didn't ministration who has come to office on a platform of restoring dignity and honor to the white house what they did was neither dignified gore was a terribly honorable nor was it germane to the issue of. wealthy british style. is not going to rise. very. high growth. markets why not. find out what's

really happening to the global economy in the kinds of reports on our t.v. .