Report: Pre-war Intelligence Efforts “Inappropriate”

ABC News’ David Kerley Reports:  A Pentagon investigation into the handling of pre-war intelligence has slapped the hand of former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith who conducted intelligence analysis trying to find links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.

According to the Pentagon’s Inspector General, Feith’s office "was predisposed to finding a significant relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda," and was responsible for intelligence "reporting of dubious quality or reliability" that supported the political views of senior administration officials rather than the conclusions of the intelligence community, but did not violate any laws or mislead Congress, said a summary report by the Pentagon’s inspector general.

Douglas Feith issued a statement on Friday that adamantly declared he had done nothing wrong.

In his statement, Feith said, "The Policy office has been smeared for years by allegations that its pre-Iraq-War work was somehow ‘unlawful’ or  ‘unauthorized’ and that some information it gave to congressional committees was deceptive or misleading. . .the IG report has now thoroughly repudiated the smears."

In an unusual twist, the spokesperson at the Department of Defense rejected the conclusions of the Pentagon’s Inspector General and supported the work of the former Undersecretary.

Department of Defense spokesperson Bryan Whitman told reporters that the report by the Inspector General "seems to run counter to other conclusions," arguing that "the policy office was a consumer of intelligence." 

Whitman urged reporters to consult a past Senate Select Intelligence Committee report on the issue as evidence that what Feith and his team did "improved the intelligence process."