Chapter 5, Part 2 Summary

A small group of advisers and analysts were put into action after 9-11 and helped manage the perception of Iraq with both the public and the intelligence community. This operation was conceived by Paul Wolfowitz and quickly grew to compete with the C.I.A. as President Bush's main source of intelligence. The so-called Office of Special Plans was headed by Abram Shulsky and William Luti. The group worked to find evidence that Saddam Hussein had links to Al Qaeda and was a real threat in terms of armaments. Hussein had used chemical weapons in the past, so it was no real stretch to assume he still had those weapons. A majority of Americans believed that Hussein was linked to September 11, even though no tangible evidence of a connection existed. The existence of this operation was made public in October 2002 in...