While watching Powell’s U.N. presentation, one CIA officer recalls thinking, “what the f—k?”
In late December 2002, most of Washington was winding down for Christmas. Young White House staffers were hard at work writing thank you notes for the gifts that had been sent to the president. But George W. Bush wasn’t ready to sign off for the holiday yet. He called a meeting and he asked the CIA to give him its best version of the case for war with Iraq.Bill McLaughlin had joined the CIA about six months earlier. He was part of a team from the agency presenting to the president.
“He asked perhaps if a Madison Avenue type could look at it to see about the ordering of the arguments, if it could be examined by an attorney to look at the structure of the arguments that were made,” McLaughlin said. “Everyone in that room, including me, strongly believes that Iraq did have WMD. It was not a subject that came up for discussion. The discussion centered around whether we could make the presentation more effective.”George Tenet, the head of the CIA, was at that meeting.
Powell and his team spent three days vetting the report alongside CIA analysts. He questioned them, asked to see evidence. For a lot of people watching up close, this seemed like Powell at his best: careful, rigorous, honorable. With Powell in charge, the administration felt confident the speech was going to be a huge success.Before the presentation, the speech was circulated through the CIA. They wanted to make sure it didn’t expose sources or methods of intelligence gathering.
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