US: The White House ignored CIA warnings about political and cultural obstacles to bringing stability to post-war Iraq, according to a review by former intelligence officers, writes Denis Staunton in Washington
The report admitted that most of the CIA's assessments of Saddam Hussein's nuclear, chemical and biological programmes before the war were "seriously flawed, misleading and even wrong", but it said the agency's analysis of cultural and political issues in post-war Iraq was right and was "apparently paid little or no attention" to by the administration.
Newspaper reports last year said the CIA told President George Bush in January 2003 that invading Iraq would increase support for political Islam and produce a divided society that could drift into violent internal conflict.
The review was commissioned by the CIA and conducted by a team led by Richard Kerr, a former deputy director of central intelligence. It was completed last year but published for the first time this week by the Centre for the Study of Intelligence, a research branch of the CIA.
A White House spokesman insisted that preparations for post-war Iraq were adequate.
In a video conference with US soldiers in Iraq, Mr Bush has restated his determination to remain in Iraq until the insurgency is defeated. "One of the tactics of the enemy is to shake our will. Part of their strategy is to use the killing of innocent people to get the American government to pull you out of there before the mission is complete. I'm going to assure you of this, that so long as I'm the president, we're never going to back down."
Mr Bush said tomorrow's constitutional referendum would lay the foundation for peace in Iraq.