07 March 2004	Sunday	15 Muharram 1425

NEW YORK, March 6: Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi says he is tired of being blamed for misleading the United States about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and points the finger instead at the CIA in an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" to be aired on Sunday.

Mr Chalabi, who heads the Iraqi National Congress exile group and has close ties to the Bush administration, says the CIA should have done a better job analyzing information received from defectors he steered their way.

"This is a ridiculous situation," says Chalabi, who still maintains that weapons of mass destruction will be found in Iraq.

Chalabi said the CIA knew defectors can be biased and that even the press was saying "'defectors have an axe to grind, don't believe them.'"

"Now you're telling me that despite all this public evidence, the United States government took our word without checking out the people?" Mr Chalabi said incredulously.

"Intelligence people who are supposed to do a better job for their country and their government did not do such a good job."-Reuters