Bush, CIA at Odds on Iran

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Bush, CIA at Odds on Iran. Will Bush Lie U.S. Into

Another War?

 

 

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Bush, CIA at Odds on Iran

The president's interest in a possible 9/11 link goes

against the agency leader's assessment. They also

disagree over intelligence reforms.

By Edwin Chen and Greg Miller

Times Staff Writers

 

July 20, 2004

 

WASHINGTON — President Bush said Monday that his

administration was investigating possible links

between Iran and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a

statement that distanced the president from acting CIA John McLaughlin, who had downplayed a

possible connection a day earlier.

 

" As to direct connections with Sept. 11, we're digging

into the facts to determine if there was one, " Bush

said of Iran.

 

In a second sign of a potential rift between the White

House and the intelligence agency, White House Press

Secretary Scott McClellan told reporters that

McLaughlin was not speaking for the president when he

said it was unnecessary to create a new, more powerful

intelligence czar, despite faulty information before

the Iraq war.

 

" The president is very much open to ideas that build

upon the reforms that we're already implementing, "

McClellan said. " I think [McLaughlin] was expressing

his view. "

 

McClellan's comments indicated that the White House

was receptive to the idea of fundamental reform in the

intelligence community, rather than the " modest

changes " McLaughlin had endorsed in an appearance on a

Sunday talk show.

 

The White House-CIA differences emerged as the

independent Sept. 11 commission prepared to release

its final report Thursday on the 2001 terrorist

attacks. The report is expected to contain

recommendations that could touch off a contentious

drive toward reforming the nation's

intelligence-gathering bureaucracy.

 

The independent commission is widely expected to

report that some of the Sept. 11 hijackers had

traveled freely between Iran and Afghanistan during

2000 and 2001. Last month, the panel's chairman,

former New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean, said in a

television interview that Al Qaeda had " a lot more

active contacts, frankly, with Iran and with Pakistan

than there were with Iraq. "

 

Iran's emerging prominence in the Sept. 11

investigations looms as a potentially difficult issue

for the White House, because it could raise new

questions about why Bush led a war against Iraq but so

far has taken a distinctly less bellicose stance

toward Iran.

 

McClellan argued that the United States indeed had

been " confronting " the threat from Iran, which Bush in

2002 listed, along with Iraq and North Korea, as part

of an " axis of evil. " He added, however, that Iraq was

" a unique situation " because it had invaded its

neighbors and had possessed and used weapons of mass

destruction.

 

McClellan also said the White House was eager to learn

what the Sept. 11 commission knew about any

connections between the hijackers and Iran.

" Apparently it's something that's evolved over time, "

he said.

 

The Iranian government has denied knowledge or

involvement in the Sept. 11 plot.

 

McLaughlin had said Sunday that although " about eight "

of the Sept. 11 hijackers may have passed through Iran

before their mission, the CIA had " no evidence that

there is some sort of official connection between Iran

and 9/11. "

 

Bush on Monday noted McLaughlin's comments, but said:

" We will continue to look and see if the Iranians were

involved. "

 

The president also renewed his accusation that Iran's

rulers were " harboring Al Qaeda leadership, " and urged

Tehran anew to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

The United States has asked Iran to turn over Al Qaeda

members to their respective countries.

 

The president's spokesman dismissed weekend media

reports that Bush may delay naming a new CIA director

until after the Nov. 2 election as having " no basis in

fact. "

 

In brief remarks to reporters after meeting with

Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, Bush said that he was

" still taking a good, hard look " at potential

successors to George J. Tenet as CIA director. Tenet

left the agency July 11.

 

As for the reforming the intelligence-gathering

apparatus, the president said he was looking forward

to seeing the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations.

 

" They share the same desires I share, which is to make

sure that the president and the Congress get the best

possible intelligence, " Bush said.

 

" Some of the reforms, I think, are necessary: more

human intelligence, better ability to listen or to see

things, and better coordination amongst the variety of

intelligence-gathering services, " he said. " And so

we'll look at all their recommendations, and I will

comment upon that, having studied what they say. "

 

The commission is expected to recommend the creation

of a single Cabinet-level position overseeing the 15

agencies that make up the nation's

intelligence-gathering community.

 

McLaughlin acknowledged on " Fox News Sunday " that " a

good argument " could be made for such consolidation,

but added that it was unnecessary because the CIA

already had taken steps toward reform since Sept. 11

and because a restructuring would impose additional

bureaucracy on the system.

 

White House officials have described McLaughlin as a

capable leader, but have also indicated that they do

not see him as a permanent replacement.

 

That may be in part because McLaughlin was in a senior

position at the agency during a stretch that included

the failure to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks and the

erroneous assessments that Iraq had stockpiles of

biological and chemical weapons and had restarted its

nuclear weapons program.

 

But it also appears that the professorial McLaughlin,

who came up through the analytical side of the CIA,

doesn't have the sort of rapport with Bush that the

backslapping, gregarious Tenet did.

 

An anecdote in a recent book by Washington Post

reporter Bob Woodward describes McLaughlin giving a

key briefing to Bush and other senior White House

officials on the evidence against Iraq before the war.

Bush was unimpressed by the presentation and

complained that the evidence was weak, prompting Tenet

to call the case against Iraq a " slam dunk. "

 

McClellan said Monday that McLaughlin was " someone who

is very capable and is doing a good job at the CIA. "

 

Times staff writer Ronald Brownstein contributed to

this report.