Washington Post corrects story

A Washington Post story carried in Friday’s Spokesman-Review about a Pentagon inspector general’s report regarding the office of former undersecretary of defense Douglas Feith incorrectly attributed quotations to that report. References to Feith’s office producing “reporting of dubious quality or reliability” and that the office “was predisposed to finding a significant relationship between Iraq and al-Qaida” were from a report issued by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., in October 2004.

Similarly, the quotes stating that Feith’s office drew on “both reliable and unreliable reporting” to produce a link between al-Qaida and Iraq “that was much stronger than that assessed by the IC (intelligence community) and more in accord with the policy views of senior officials in the Administration” were also from Levin’s report. The article also stated that the intelligence provided by Feith’s office supported the political views of senior administration officials, a conclusion that the inspector general’s report did not draw.