http://wvgazette.com/News/200804290627
April 30, 2008
Ex-CIA analyst thinks Bush plans to attack Iran this year
Ray McGovern, a career U.S. intelligence officer, believes President Bush
and his administration have no intention of leaving Iraq and are preparing
to attack Iran in the next few months.
By Paul J. Nyden
Staff writer
Ray McGovern, a career U.S. intelligence officer, believes President Bush
and his administration have no intention of leaving Iraq and are preparing
to attack Iran in the next few months.
"I believe George Bush and Dick Cheney plan to take care of Iran before they
leave office. But what will happen then, if Iran cuts supplies coming to
Iraq through Kuwait? That could threaten tens of thousands of our soldiers,"
McGovern said during a Tuesday interview with the Gazette.
McGovern will speak at West Virginia State University this evening and at
Grace Baptist Church in Charleston on Thursday morning.
In January 2003, McGovern helped create Veteran Intelligence Professionals
for Sanity, a group that has 67 former professionals from the Central
Intelligence Agency, State Department and military intelligence agencies.
McGovern said he believes the Iraq war had several causes, including giving
a "rebuke" to Saddam Hussein, supporting the Israeli government, controlling
oil reserves and expanding permanent U.S. military bases in the Middle East.
During Tuesday's interview, McGovern singled out former Secretary of State
Colin Powell and former CIA Director George Tenet for failing to counter
false intelligence information Bush used to justify his Iraq invasion.
"They used forgeries and half truths, creating intelligence for war,"
McGovern said.
Powell went to CIA headquarters for three days to prepare for his critical
Feb. 5, 2003, speech to the United Nations justifying the war, McGovern
said, but failed to consult critics like Tom Fingar, who once chaired the
committee that prepared national intelligence estimates.
"Colin Powell and George Tenet were the only two who could have stopped this
juggernaut," McGovern said. "I don't think that ever occurred to either of
them."
McGovern said Powell and Tenet should have told Bush, "We strongly advise
you to broaden your circle of advisers beyond those clearly intent on
launching a war for which we see no compelling reason and from which we see
unintended consequences that will be catastrophic."
McGovern had high praise for Richard A. Clarke and his 2004 book, "Against
All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror." After working for the National
Security Council for more than 10 years under both Presidents Bush and Bill
Clinton, Clarke, frustrated, left early in the current Bush administration.
McGovern also praised Sen. Robert C. Byrd, an early and consistent critic of
the war: "He has my admiration and immense respect."
McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years from the administrations of John F.
Kennedy to George H.W. Bush.
