According to the White House, two former CIA officials quoted by Suskind deny telling him that in 2003 they were ordered to forge a document to show that Iraq conspired with al Qaeda in the 9/11 attacks and clandestinely bought uranium in Africa.
"I never received direction from George Tenet (CIA director at the time) or anyone else in my chain of command to fabricate a document ... as outlined in Mr. Suskind's book,"
a statement attributed to Robert Richer, the CIA's former deputy director of clandestine operations, said.
According to the White House, Richer also said he had talked with John Maguire, chief of the CIA's Iraq Operations Group in 2003, who gave him "permission to state the following on his behalf:
"I never received any instruction from then Chief/NE Rob Richer or any other officer in my chain of command instructing me to fabricate such a letter. Further, I have no knowledge to the origins of the letter and as to how it circulated in Iraq."
Neither Richer or Maguire could be reached to back up the White House's account.
UPDATE:
The Washington Post heard directly from Richer and Maguire by e-mail on Wednesday, Post reporter Joby Warrick
reported
"I never received direction from George Tenet or anyone else in my chain of command to fabricate a document from Habbush as outlined in Mr. Suskind's book," Richer said in an e-mail.
"I have no knowledge to the origins of the letter," Maguire said in the same statement.
On Tuesday Tenet released a statement ridiculing Suskind's account as "a complete fabrication."
Suskind responded that the criticisms from the White House and Tenet were expected. He said Tenet "is not credible on this issue" and the White House "is all but obligated to deny this."
"If they go in the other direction," Suskind added, "I think they're probably going to have to start firing people."
Dennis Lormel, who directed the FBI's pursuit of al Qaeda's financing after 9/11, wrote that Suskind's description of events involving him "were inaccurate."
Two quotes that Suskind attributed to him, Lormel maintained, were "overly melodramatic and out of context with comments I actually made."
The accuracy of another key event Suskind reported in that book, involving one of the London subway bombers, also came under heavy attack by officials and the media in 2006.
Newsweek's Mark Hosenball
suggested that Suskind had confused the identity of
the bomber with another terrorist suspect with the same last name.
Suskind told the magazine that he stood by his reporting, as did his sources, "who he rechecked with after questions were raised about the allegations in his book," Hosenball wrote.
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