Report says Powell's Iran information based on single source
Sunday, November 21, 2004 at 03:05AM
TheSpook
Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's announcement
earlier this week that Iran could be developing nuclear-capable
missiles was based on an "unvetted, single source," The Washington Post
said Friday. The intelligence, which two U.S. officials said had not
been verified, could be significant if true but an embarrassment if
not, reminiscent of Powell's February 2003 UN speech about Iraq's
alleged weapons of mass destruction, which was based on dubious
intelligence and which so far has proved untrue. The officials told the
daily the intelligence was stamped "No Foreign," meaning it was not to
be shared even with U.S. allies, although they said U.S. President
George W. Bush shared portions of it with British Prime Minister, Tony
Blair, last week. Powell, in Santiago for an APEC summit this weekend,
said Wednesday that he had "seen some information that would suggest"
that Iran was seeking to adapt its missiles to carry nuclear warheads -
they have "been actively working on delivery systems," he said. The
information in Powell's comment was drawn from a "walk-in" source, who
provided U.S. intelligence with 1,000 pages of alleged Iranian drawings
and technical documents, including modifications to ballistic missiles
to carry nuclear weapons, one official with access to the material told
the daily. [more]
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