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The "common knowledge" is that US went to war with Iraq in 2003 based on "intelligence reports" claiming that Iraq had active Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) programs.

On the other hand, some people deny that, stating that the intelligence community claimed that Iraq has no active WMDs programs, and that the Bush administration doctored its own intelligence which didn't come out of any of US intelligence agencies.

Did the US intelligence community suggest that Iraq had WMDs?

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  • Are you talking about this?
    – Sklivvz
    Commented Aug 5, 2014 at 12:48
  • @Sklivvz, yeah basically. Although the article you link isn't a clear cut in either direction.
    – vartec
    Commented Aug 5, 2014 at 12:52
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    Iraq proved that it had weapons of mass destructions in the late 80s when they used them in a genocide against the Kurdish population in northern Iraq. You might want to restrict the scope of your question to a fixed timeframe before 2003.
    – Philipp
    Commented Aug 5, 2014 at 13:25
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    The thing about people is that they have differing opinions. The same was true of the intelligence community. Another thing to remember is this is the same community that missed the huge red flags before 9-11. They are human and they make mistakes.
    – Chad
    Commented Aug 5, 2014 at 18:10
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    @vartec since it's classified u have to wait 50 or so years
    – user5341
    Commented Aug 8, 2014 at 23:09

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A highly redacted version of the 1 October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate "[Redacted] Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction" is public.

We judge that Iraq has continued its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program in defiance of UN resolutions and restrictions. Bagdad has chemical and biological weapons as well as missiles in excess of UN restrictions; if left uncheck it will probably have a nuclear weapon during this decade.

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Iraq has largely rebuilt missile and biological weapons facilities damaged during Operation Desert Fox and has expanded its chemical and biological infrastructure under the cover of civilian production

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We assess that Bagdad has begun renewed production of mustard gas, sarin, GF (cyclosarin), and VX

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Saddam probably has stocked at least 100 metric tons (MT) and possibly as much as 500MT of CW agents

Edit: a much less-redacted version appears to available here: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/images/Iraq/IraqWMDs.pdf

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