LONDON -- It now seems clear that United States and British intelligence about Iraq was woefully inadequate in relation to Iraqi possession of weapons of mass destruction.
The three mobile laboratories that have apparently been found may be significant, but they don't amount to a "smoking gun." Possibly the recently intensified search may result in more significant finds. Perhaps, as U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld disingenuously suggested, the Iraqis may have destroyed their holdings prior to the invasion, but shouldn't it be possible to find evidence to support such a suggestion?
Whatever the facts, it seems clear from reports in the British media that uncorroborated information, such as from Iraqi defectors, was taken too literally. Defectors, anxious to enhance their chances of asylum, would naturally exaggerate. Serious attempts should have been made to verify their stories, or at the least their stories should have been reported in intelligence reports with caveats about the truth of such reports.