Reid ignored Iraq pre-war intel report

But Senate minority leader led recent demand for accountability

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., failed to read a specially prepared National Intelligence Estimate detailing Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs in the days before he voted to authorize President Bush to use force to invade the Arab state.

Human Events reported that Reid admitted last week he did not examine the report, which was prepared at the request of Senate Democrats by CIA Director George Tenet, even though Reid has been at the forefront of a political effort alleging the Bush administration misled Congress and the nation in its march to war against Saddam Hussein.

The magazine reported that Tenet delivered his NIE to lawmakers early in October 2002; Reid and a majority of other members of Congress voted to give Bush his authority only days later, on Oct. 11.

"Reid locked the Senate into a controversial closed session three weeks ago to demand accountability on prewar intelligence, but it turns out he did not bother in 2002 to thoroughly familiarize himself with what the U.S. intelligence community was saying about Iraq in the run-up to his own pro-war vote," Human Events reported.

The magazine also noted that an April 7, 2004, Washington Post article said, "No more than six senators and a handful of House members read beyond the five-page National Intelligence Estimate executive summary, according to several congressional aides responsible for safeguarding the classified material."

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., told Fox News Nov. 13, " There were only six people in the Senate who did [read the NIE], and I was one of them."

Rockefeller, who is the ranking minority member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he was "sure" the panel's chairman, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., read the NIE; Human Events reported it confirmed Rockefeller's assertion with Roberts personally.

The magazine also queried other top Democrats � many of whom have accused the White House of using false or exaggerated intelligence information to justify the Iraq war � whether they read the requested NIE. Their responses are as follows:

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts said, "I got briefings. I got a personal briefing at the Pentagon."

Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York replied, "I'm not going to say anything about that. Just let the intelligence committee do their work, okay?"

Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut answered, "I'm not sure I did. I read a lot of intelligence information around that time, but I don't know whether I formally read the NIE. I'd have to go back on that."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said she did read the NIE and used the information it contained to vote in favor of the war.
In a follow-up, Human Events reported it asked Reid why he hadn't read the requested NIE.

"Senator Reid gave his floor statement on the Iraq resolution on October 9, 2002, and the reasoning he gave for voting for the resolution does not have much to do with current assessments of the intelligence on WMD," a spokesman replied, via e-mail. "Members got their information on Iraq from lots of sources in the months leading up to the October 2002 vote. The most important sources of information were White House/Administration officials, including the President, Vice President, and Secretary of Defense."