Thomas Daschle: “In recent weeks, Americans have witnessed a steady stream of reports that raise grave questions about the accuracy of…”

“In recent weeks, Americans have witnessed a steady stream of reports that raise grave questions about the accuracy of statements made by senior Bush administration officials leading up to the war in Iraq. The unequivocal administration pronouncements that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, was pursuing nuclear capabilities, and had close ties with al-Qaida have not been proven or been proven unequivocally wrong. Implications of these intelligence failures are far-reaching. While Saddam Hussein may be in prison, just this week CIA Director Tenet indicated America is still the target of terrorists who seek to kill as many Americans as possible in any way available to them. At no time in our Nation's history has the integrity of the people who use intelligence and the people who produce intelligence been more vital to national security. Americans need to have confidence in both our policymakers and our intelligence community. To rebuild that confidence, Americans have a right to know how the administration and how our intelligence community could have been so wrong on matters of such grave import. For a failure this massive, every aspect of America's national security policymaking process should be put under the microscope: How we collect information, how we analyze it, how it gets interpreted by administration officials, and how the Senate performs its oversight responsibilities.”