Iraq and weapons of mass destruction Miller helped persuade the American public that Iraq had WMD: in September 2002 she wrote about an intercepted shipment of aluminum tubes which the NYT said were to be used to develop nuclear material. It is now generally understood that they were not intended (or well suited) for that purpose but rather for artillery rockets. The story was followed up with television appearances by Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice all pointing to the story as part of the basis for taking military action against Iraq. Miller's sources were introduced to her by Ahmed Chalabi, an Iraqi exile favorable
Known and Unknown: A Memoir death by friendly fire was covered up by the Pentagon." Author and history professor Andrew Bacevich panned the book in "The Financial Times", writing: Jonathan Powell, who served as chief of staff to British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the same time as Rumsfeld's tenure under Bush, disparaged the memoir in "The New Statesman". He remarked that Rumsfeld reminded him of a reactionary Bourbon monarch after the French restoration. Powell also asserted that Rumsfeld made "no revelations of importance" and wrote with a "relentless desire always to be right" that is "deeply off-putting". Powell wrote (quoting Talleyrand) that Rumsfeld had