Analysts Behind Iraq Intelligence Were Rewarded

Do they really believe the two deserved the awards, or was it done to buy their silence?--Dictynna

By Walter Pincus

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 28, 2005; Page A01

Two Army analysts whose work has been cited as part of a key intelligence failure on Iraq -- the claim that aluminum tubes sought by the Baghdad government were most likely meant for a nuclear weapons program rather than for rockets -- have received job performance awards in each of the past three years, officials said.

The civilian analysts, former military men considered experts on foreign and U.S. weaponry, work at the Army's National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC), one of three U.S. agencies singled out for particular criticism by President Bush's commission that investigated U.S. intelligence.