Congresswoman voted for war despite disputes of CIA's proof

James W. Brosnan

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON - When President Bush made the case for war against Iraq in the fall of 2002, no piece of evidence caught the public's attention more than the assertion that Saddam Hussein tried to acquire high-strength aluminum tubes to make a nuclear bomb.

But within days of that assertion, Rep. Heather Wilson knew that the Department of Energy disputed whether those tubes could be used in the centrifuges needed to enrich uranium for bomb fuel.

Now, as the Albuquerque Republican is being accused by her Democratic opponent of negligence in the run-up to the war, Wilson is disclosing that she questioned CIA officials about the aluminum tubes at classified briefings for members of Congress.

"I think I was the only one," Wilson told The Tribune.

Nonetheless, Wilson said she voted on Oct. 11, 2002, to authorize force against Iraq based on what she now believes were mistaken estimates of Iraq's biological weapons program and Saddam's intent to use those weapons against the United States.

Wilson told The Tribune she did not publicly disclose the Energy Department's doubts about the aluminum tubes before Congress voted because the information was classified. She said she is discussing her questioning of the CIA about the tubes now because "nobody ever asked me before."

But it also comes at a time when Wilson's Democratic opponent, Attorney General Patricia Madrid, is charging that Wilson was negligent in the days leading up to the war.

One Madrid ad states: "Heather Wilson sits on the Intelligence Committee but she never questioned George Bush on the war."

The choice on the approach to Iraq for the voters of New Mexico's First District is as stark as any in the country. And the race is viewed as one that could return control of the House of Representatives to the Democrats.

Madrid says that if elected, she would vote to force the Bush administration to present a plan to Congress to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

Wilson says the timetable should be left up to the U.S. generals based on their assessments of the ability of the Iraqi military and police to defend themselves.

But Madrid's case against Wilson isn't based solely on the road ahead in Iraq.

Just as Wilson has questioned why Madrid did not investigate alleged corruption in the state Treasurer's Office, Madrid says Wilson fell down on the job when it came to probing Bush's case for war.

"The Constitution puts a burden on the Congress to debate fully before it authorizes military action. This Congress spends more time debating highways than it does war. It just never asked the tough questions and that's why we went to war on faulty intelligence," Madrid said in an interview.

Madrid said Wilson "bears a particular responsibility" for the failures of Congress on the war because of her experience.

Wilson is an Air Force veteran. She served as a defense planner in Europe and also served on the staff of the National Security Council under the first President George Bush, a fact noted in at least one of her news releases about Iraq.

Wilson was not on the Select Committee on Intelligence during the buildup to the war in 2002 and 2003, as Madrid's ad implies. But Wilson was on the Armed Services Committee, which held four public hearings on Iraq prior to the war and whose members had access to several classified briefings, including with then-CIA Director George Tenet, then-National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

On Sept. 11, 2002, Wilson was in Albuquerque for a 9/11 memorial at the Civic Plaza.

She also attended a classified briefing at Sandia National Laboratories with David Nokes, vice president for national security; Patricia Gingrich, director of the assessments group; and a few "key intelligence analysts," according to a schedule provided by Wilson's office.

That briefing came three days after the New York Times broke a story, based on administration leaks, that Iraq had acquired thousands of aluminum tubes.

Later that same day, Vice President Dick Cheney and Rice asserted in TV interviews that the tubes were to be used to make high-speed centrifuges for enriching uranium. What they did not say was that the Energy Department disagreed with the CIA.

At a subsequent classified briefing for members of Congress, Wilson said she specifically questioned CIA officials about the aluminum tubes.

Wilson said she was not satisfied with the CIA's response and did not base her support for the use of force on Iraq on the aluminum tubes. But she said CIA Director Tenet did assure he had a "high degree of confidence" that Iraq was developing biological weapons.

At the public hearings, Wilson used most of her limited question time to ask Pentagon officials whether they had enough battle-ready troops and equipment for the war.

On Oct. 8, 2002, Wilson announced she would vote to give Bush the authority to overthrow Saddam.

She said she had sought out "independent experts" about Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons program.

"The evidence that Iraq has and is further developing weapons of mass destruction is convincing," Wilson said. "Iraq has chemical and biological weapons including mustard gas, Sarin nerve gas and anthrax. We believe he (Saddam) may have other deadly diseases he is making into weapons. Iraq had an advanced nuclear weapons program before the Gulf War and is seeking to develop nuclear weapons."

Asked about that statement now, Wilson said: "The prewar intelligence was wrong in several respects."

But she said none of the reports about the failures of the intelligence community have faulted the efforts of Congress.

Last year, as the Iraq government took shape, Wilson predicted that 2006 would see the withdrawal of U.S. troops in "significant numbers."

The number of U.S. troops in Iraq has gone from about 168,000 in December to 133,000 this summer although the number could go up this month because of re-deployments to quell unrest in Baghdad, Wilson said.

She said she has been disappointed at the slow pace of reconstituting Iraq's Army, but said the decisions on when to withdraw U.S. troops should be made by the military not politicians.

Madrid said Congress should require the administration to present a plan for withdrawing the troops but she has not suggested her own timetable or deadline for withdrawal.

"I've taken the position that the Bush administration got us into this war and they should clean up their mess," said Madrid.