Contradicting scientists and the assessment of the U.S. intelligence community, the White House continues to claim the coronavirus may have escaped a Chinese lab. Now some analysts say the disconnect echoes missteps that led to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Many scientists have publicly expressed doubt that the lab is behind the virus. While impressive sounding, 96% similarity actually means the Wuhan Institute's sample is only a distant cousin of the current COVID-19 virus. And the lab was known to follow internationally established safety protocols that would have made an accidental release extremely unlikely.
Morell says he believes the disconnect means that the president and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who made similar claims on Sunday, are jumping ahead of the actual intelligence assessments. "They kept asking the CIA," he says."And we kept coming back and saying, 'You know, it's just not there.'" Things get even murkier outside the intelligence agencies. In the case of Iraq, U.S. agents were fed forged documents made to show Iraq was trying to get uranium from Niger. Lewis thinks the forgers were just after money, and he thinks it could happen again.
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