“The Franklin investigation [of AIPAC, an American Jewish lobby], writes correspondent Nathan Guttman in Israel’s Haaretz [on August 29, 2004], ‘breathes new life into the assertion that Israeli, and not American, interests led to the war in Iraq.’ What is now clear is that the original justification for the invasion–that the United States was in imminent danger from the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction–was fraudulent, as many in the CIA and other intelligence agencies were quietly warning. Instead, it was simply a pretext for a war long advocated by a small group of hard-line neoconservatives with their own agenda. The man who might have made a difference was [CIA Director] George Tenet, but rather than fight or resign in protest, he chose instead simply to go along. It was a ‘slam dunk’ decision.”
– James Bamford, A Pretext for War, Page 422