Linked with Fact-Based Intelligence Prevails on Nukes and Iran.
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity VIPS (for VIPs, Very Important Persons) is a group of current and former officials of the United States Intelligence Community, including some from the Central Intelligence Agency CIA, the U.S. State Department’s Intelligence Bureau, and the Defense Intelligence Agency DIA.
This group issued a letter before the 2003 invasion of Iraq warning that there would potentially be numerous U.S. casualties if Iraq used chemical weapons during any « offensive aimed at getting rid of Saddam Hussein. »
This letter (on counterpunch, February 8, 2003) noted the various Gulf War-related illnesses which many returning soldiers contracted due to the presence of chemical and biological agents in Desert Storm.
The group was formed in January 2003 as a « coast-to-coast enterprise » to protest the use of faulty intelligence « upon which the US/UK invasion of Iraq was based » … (full text).
Link: Raymond (Ray) McGovern (born 1939) is a retired CIA officer turned political activist. McGovern was a Federal employee under seven U.S. presidents over 27 years, presenting the morning intelligence briefings at the White House for many of them.