Page "Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda link allegations" Paragraph 120

In a minority addendum to the report signed by four Republican dissenters, the Republicans, according to the New York Times, " suggested that the investigation was a partisan smoke screen to obscure the real story: that the C. I. A.

failed the Bush administration by delivering intelligence assessments to policy makers that have since been discredited.

" While the minority Senators do not take issue with the majority's conclusion that there was no evidence of Saddam-al-Qaeda conspiracy, they objected to the manner in which the report was assembled, calling the finished product " a waste of Committee time and resources.

" According to the dissent, " the reports essentially validate what we have been saying all along: the policymakers ' statements were substantiated by the intelligence ... it was the intelligence that was faulty.

" The dissent focused mainly on the Committee's reluctance to include statements made by previous administrations and members of Congress with regard to prewar intelligence.

The dissent also objected to the report's conclusion that President Bush and Vice President Cheney made statements that Saddam was " prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups for attacks against the United States.

" According to the dissent, " neither President nor the Vice President said this.

" The dissent also complained about the fact that the majority left out of its report " a handwritten note by a CIA officer at the bottom of one of the drafts the President's Cincinnati speech said that the CIA terrorism analyst had ' read all the terrorism paragraphs and said it was all okay.

'"