Powell Expresses Doubts About Basis for Iraqi Weapons Claim (washingtonpost.com)
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell voiced new doubt yesterday on the administration’s assertions of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, saying the description in his U.N. presentation of mobile biological weapons laboratories appears to have been based on faulty sources.
Powell, describing the mobile labs as “the most dramatic” element of his Feb. 5, 2003, speech before the U.N. Security Council, said he hoped the recently appointed commission to examine prewar claims of Iraqi weapons “will look into these matters to see whether or not the intelligence agency had a basis for the confidence . . . placed in the intelligence at that time.” He also said he has spoken to CIA officials about how suspect information ended up in his speech.