The Hindu : 'Intelligence of dubious value'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 12, 2004

International

International

'Intelligence of dubious value'

WASHINGTON, MARCH 11. The Pentagon is paying $340,000 a month to the Iraqi political organisation led by Ahmad Chalabi, a member of the interim Iraqi government who has close ties to the Bush administration, for ``intelligence collection'' about Iraq, according to Defence Department officials.

The classified programme, run by the Defense Intelligence Agency since summer 2002, continues a longstanding partnership between the Pentagon and the organisation, the Iraqi National Congress, even as the group jockeys for power in a future government.

Internal government reviews have found that much of the information generated by the programme before the U.S. invasion last year was useless, misleading or even fabricated.

Under the unusual arrangement, the CIA is required to get permission from the Pentagon before interviewing informants from the Iraqi National Congress, according to officials . The CIA has been working with another Iraqi group, the Iraqi National Accord, to help establish an independent Iraqi intelligence service. — New York Times News Service

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