The chairmen of Foreign Affairs, Armed Services and Intelligence committees in the US House of Representatives – all Democrats – asked Pompeo in a letter to provide a State Department briefing and documents no later than May 23.
TO JUSTIFY THE MARCH TO WAR
The letter cited a Reuters story from April 17 that reported how the administration’s annual report to Congress assessing compliance with arms control agreements provoked a dispute with US intelligence agencies and some State Department officials.
The dissenting officials, sources said, were concerned that the document politicized and skewed assessments against Iran. “Our nation knows all too well the perils of ignoring and ‘cherry-picking’ intelligence in foreign policy and national security decisions,” the chairmen said in their letter. They referred to the selective use of intelligence “to justify the march to war” in Iraq in 2003.
Tensions have risen between the United States and Iran this month following statements from Washington that the US military was braced for “possibly imminent threats to US.forces in Iraq” from Iran-backed groups. US President Donald Trump has told top advisers he does not want to get the United States involved in a war with Iran, three US officials said on Thursday.