January 31, 2003: State Department’s Intelligence Bureau Flags 38 Claims in Powell’s UN Speech as ‘Weak,’ ‘Unsubstantiated’

The State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), reduced to fact-checking the drafts of Secretary of State Colin Powell’s upcoming UN speech (see January 30-February 4, 2003 and February 5, 2003), flags 38 of the charges in the draft as “unsubstantiated” or “weak.” Twenty-eight of them are removed from the draft. [Unger, 2007, pp. 278]