Abu Dhabi: Asserting that the CIA findings have never been reliable, former intelligence Chief of Saudi Arabia and a senior member of the Kingdom's Royal family, Prince Turki al-Faisal, said that the infamous American agency had once concluded that Iraq possessed chemical weapons and it later turned out to be totally false.
"The CIA is not necessarily the highest standard of veracity or accuracy in assessing situations. The examples of that are multitude," Prince Turki al-Faisal told journalists in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
The prince, who has also served as ambassador to the United States and UK, said the agency's conclusion that Iraq possessed chemical weapons before the US invasion in 2003 showed it could be unreliable.
"That was the most glaring of inaccurate and wrong assessments, which led to a full-scale war with thousands being killed," he said, speaking at an event hosted by the Beirut Institute think tank.
"I don't see why the CIA is not on trial in the United States. This is my answer to their assessment of who is guilty and who is not and who did what in the consulate in Istanbul", he said.
Turki al-Faisal was responding to the media reports claiming CIA has concluded that Saudi national Jamal Khashoggi was murdered on the order of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Interestingly, US President Donald Trump too has disputed that the agency reached a conclusion on the murder, saying instead "they have feelings certain ways".
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