OpinionJournal - Featured Article

OpinionJournal - Featured Article: "Saddam's WMD
Why is our intelligence community holding back?

BY PETER HOEKSTRA AND RICK SANTORUM
Monday, June 26, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT
On Wednesday, at our request, the director of national intelligence declassified six 'key points' from a National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) report on the recovery of chemical munitions in Iraq. The summary was only a small snapshot of the entire report, but even so, it brings new information to the American people. 'Since 2003,' the summary states, 'Coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent,' which remains 'hazardous and potentially lethal.' So there are WMDs in Iraq, and they could kill Americans there or all over the world.
This latest information should not be new. It should have been brought to public attention by officials in the intelligence community. Instead, it had to be pried out of them. Mr. Santorum wrote to John DeFreitas, commanding general, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, on April 12, asking to see the report. He wrote, 'I am informed that there may well be many more stores of WMDs throughout Iraq,' and added, 'the people of Pennsylvania and Members of Congress would benefit from reviewing this report.' He asked that the 'NGIC work with the appropriate entities' to declassify as much of the information as possible.
The senator received no response. On June 5, he wrote again, this time to John Negroponte, director of national intelligence, 'concerning captured Iraqi documents, data, media and maps from the regime of Saddam Hussein.' He mentioned his "