Rumsfeld Aide Tries to Deny Reports His Team Slanted Intel, Caught in Lies

NY Times - "This suggestion that we said to them, `This is what we're looking for. Go find it,' is precisely the inaccuracy that we are here to rebut," Mr. Feith told reporters. "I know of nobody who pressured anybody."

After Mr. Feith's nearly hourlong briefing, some defense officials familiar with classified intelligence assessments on Iraq, its ties to terrorists and what the govern ment charged were its weapons of mass destruction programs, said they were baffled or angered by his remarks.

One senior official, who said he was skeptical of Mr. Feith's account, was too angry to answer immediately. Another official said simply, "There was a lot of doublespeak out there."

Mr. Feith said the intelligence team and policy planning office were separate entities with different responsibilities. He said the intelligence team was disbanded last August and the planning office was established two months later. Mr. Feith also denied that the planning office was a conduit for intelligence reports from the Iraqi National Congress to the White House.

But other defense officials gave a different interpretation today. These officials said the intelligence team was still active at least through last fall, and its assessments carried weight with the Special Plans office.

In interviews late last October, Mr. Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul D. Wolfowitz, described the intelligence team as still active. A senior defense official said today he could not explain the discrepancy, adding that the intelligence team was a "very minor thing on their radar screens."

Mr. Feith also disputed the notion that the intelligence team "developed the case on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction," saying it focused on terrorist networks. But moments later, Mr. Feith said one of the seminal lessons from the Sept. 11 attacks was the connection between terrorist networks and their desire to obtain weapons of mass destruction.