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Iraq Intelligence Debacle Impacting Syria Debate â€“ Rumsfeld

05 September 2013 23:48 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday that faulty intelligence in the run-up to the US-led war in Iraq – of which he was a key architect – is impacting the US government’s current push for military intervention in Syria, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.

“That experience unquestionably has affected some people’s judgment and attitude and impressions,” Rumsfeld told CNN in an interview.

Rumsfeld, who criticized US President Barack Obama for what he described as a lack of leadership during the current Syria crisis, also conceded that intelligence used to justify military action is not always correct, citing US intelligence about weapons of mass destruction allegedly held by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein that Washington used to defend the 2003 Iraqi invasion but which later proved to be false.

“You know if intelligence were a fact, it would be called a fact, and not intelligence,” Rumsfeld said. “ … It turned out that stockpiles were not found, that people were cautious and began to recognize that intelligence is intelligence and not necessarily a fact.”