- Jul 25, 2002
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Bush, Rice did not see State's Objection
From Washington Post
Dana Milbank / Dana Priest
Saturday July 19, 2003
Excerpt -
President Bush and his national security adviser did not entirely read the most authoritative prewar assessment of U.S. intelligence on Iraq, including a State Department claim that an allegation Bush would later use in his State of the Union address was "highly dubious," White House officials said yesterday.
The acknowledgment came in a briefing for reporters in which the administration released excerpts from last October's National Intelligence Estimate, a classified, 90-page summary that was the definitive assessment of Iraq's weapons programs by U.S. intelligence agencies. The report declared that "most" of the six intelligence agencies believed there was "compelling evidence that Saddam [Hussein] is reconstituting a uranium enrichment effort for Baghdad's nuclear weapons program." But the document also included a pointed dissent by the State Department, which said the evidence did not "add up to a compelling case" that Iraq was making a comprehensive effort to get nuclear weapons.
The unusual decision to declassify a major intelligence report was a bid by the White House to quiet a growing controversy over Bush's allegations about Iraq's weapons programs. The chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is seeking to question White House aides after hearing from CIA officials who said that Bush aides pushed to include contested allegations about Iraq's nuclear ambitions in Bush's speech. The CIA account was contradicted during yesterday's White House briefing.
Bush aides released eight pages of the NIE, including various findings supporting Bush's charges against Iraq: that Iraq was "continuing, and in some areas expanding," chemical, biological and nuclear programs; that it possessed forbidden chemical and biological weapons; and that it was likely to have a nuclear weapon by the end of the decade.
But the excerpts also show that significant doubts were raised about key assertions Bush made in his State of the Union address. According to the NIE, a consensus document based on the work of six agencies, both the Energy Department, which is responsible for watching foreign nuclear programs, and the State Department disagreed with another allegation, voiced by Bush, that aluminum tubes purchased by Iraq were for a nuclear weapons program.
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O.K. - The "alledged" elected leader of the Free World, and his National Security Advisor DID NOT READ the report that they used
to take us into a War ? The FIRST Pre-Emptive Strike war in out history ?
Bush didn't read all (or any) of the information, he just reads from cue cards that someone prepares for him ?
That tells me that he dosen't know what in the hell he's doing, or what's going on around him.
Does this also mean that he has no comprehension on words bigger than, say - Dog or Cat ?
And Condi Rice - NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR - It's incumbent upon her in her position to know every damn thing about
any information that deals with Foriegn Policy - Especially in Security and Defense Issues. If she was unaware of information,
and in fact had access to this informatrion and didn't bother reading and comprehending it, she is derrilect in her performance
in her job, and should be fired - and charged with a capital offense for felony negligence in her official office capacity.
Unexcusable by the Administration - they cannot defend what they have done through their neglect and incompetence.
From Washington Post
Dana Milbank / Dana Priest
Saturday July 19, 2003
Excerpt -
President Bush and his national security adviser did not entirely read the most authoritative prewar assessment of U.S. intelligence on Iraq, including a State Department claim that an allegation Bush would later use in his State of the Union address was "highly dubious," White House officials said yesterday.
The acknowledgment came in a briefing for reporters in which the administration released excerpts from last October's National Intelligence Estimate, a classified, 90-page summary that was the definitive assessment of Iraq's weapons programs by U.S. intelligence agencies. The report declared that "most" of the six intelligence agencies believed there was "compelling evidence that Saddam [Hussein] is reconstituting a uranium enrichment effort for Baghdad's nuclear weapons program." But the document also included a pointed dissent by the State Department, which said the evidence did not "add up to a compelling case" that Iraq was making a comprehensive effort to get nuclear weapons.
The unusual decision to declassify a major intelligence report was a bid by the White House to quiet a growing controversy over Bush's allegations about Iraq's weapons programs. The chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is seeking to question White House aides after hearing from CIA officials who said that Bush aides pushed to include contested allegations about Iraq's nuclear ambitions in Bush's speech. The CIA account was contradicted during yesterday's White House briefing.
Bush aides released eight pages of the NIE, including various findings supporting Bush's charges against Iraq: that Iraq was "continuing, and in some areas expanding," chemical, biological and nuclear programs; that it possessed forbidden chemical and biological weapons; and that it was likely to have a nuclear weapon by the end of the decade.
But the excerpts also show that significant doubts were raised about key assertions Bush made in his State of the Union address. According to the NIE, a consensus document based on the work of six agencies, both the Energy Department, which is responsible for watching foreign nuclear programs, and the State Department disagreed with another allegation, voiced by Bush, that aluminum tubes purchased by Iraq were for a nuclear weapons program.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
O.K. - The "alledged" elected leader of the Free World, and his National Security Advisor DID NOT READ the report that they used
to take us into a War ? The FIRST Pre-Emptive Strike war in out history ?
Bush didn't read all (or any) of the information, he just reads from cue cards that someone prepares for him ?
That tells me that he dosen't know what in the hell he's doing, or what's going on around him.
Does this also mean that he has no comprehension on words bigger than, say - Dog or Cat ?
And Condi Rice - NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR - It's incumbent upon her in her position to know every damn thing about
any information that deals with Foriegn Policy - Especially in Security and Defense Issues. If she was unaware of information,
and in fact had access to this informatrion and didn't bother reading and comprehending it, she is derrilect in her performance
in her job, and should be fired - and charged with a capital offense for felony negligence in her official office capacity.
Unexcusable by the Administration - they cannot defend what they have done through their neglect and incompetence.
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