Ex-CIA official says war was goal from the start

By Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The former CIA official charged with managing the U.S. government's secret intelligence assessments on Iraq says the Bush administration chose war first and then misleadingly used raw data to assemble a public case for its decision to invade.

Paul Pillar, the CIA's national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005, said the Bush administration also played on the nation's fears after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, falsely linking al-Qaida to Saddam Hussein's government even though intelligence agencies had not produced a single analysis supporting "the notion of an alliance" between the two.

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