Why was the Central Intelligence Agency criticized for its assessment of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction before the Iraq War?

The Central Intelligence Agency faced significant criticism following the Iraq War due to its failure to provide accurate intelligence regarding the country's military capabilities.

In 2005, a presidential committee tasked with investigating intelligence failures prior to the 2003 invasion released a report that explicitly criticized the agency for its inaccurate assessment of Iraq’s efforts to acquire and produce weapons of mass destruction. This assessment was a central justification for the U.S.-led intervention, and its inaccuracy highlighted a major breakdown in the intelligence community's analytical processes at the time.1