Rockefeller: WMD Flap 'Far From Over'

[villager]

Sen. Jay Rockefeller: WMD Flap 'Far From Over'

Democrat Calls Rice 'Dishonorable' for Blaming CIA Director

July 13, 2003 -- In a conversation with NPR's Steve Inskeep, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) -- the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee -- says the White House unfairly made CIA director George Tenet the scapegoat for faulty intelligence on Iraq.

Rockefeller also told Inskeep that National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice "had to have known" a year before Bush's 2003 State of the Union address that intelligence claiming Iraqi agents were attempting to purchase uranium from African officials was bogus.

Referring to recent White House and CIA statements meant to defuse the controversy, Rockefeller said, "I think it raises more questions than it settles, and I think it's far from over.

"I cannot believe that Condi Rice... directly, from Africa, pointed the finger at George Tenet, when she had known -- had to have known -- a year before the State of the Union."

<snip>

http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1335540.html

[phishhead]

1. I'm proud Rockefeller represents my state!

Go Rockefeller! :)

[GOPFighter]

6. Rockefeller AND Byrd!

...and they don't have the death penalty. West Virginia has a lot to be proud of!

[Sagan]

2. we need to start bashing Condi big time...

What has she accomplished at all as NS Advisor? Nothing! Her whole job seems to be to go on talk shows to spin failures. What a crappy ass way to promote National Security.

[diplomats]

3. Yes, I think she's the appropriate target now

eom

[diplomats]

5. I also like his choice of the word "dishonorable"

that strikes at the heart of the WH's attempts to "restore honor and dignity to the WH."

[villager]

4. the whole "Bush is bad for nat'l security" theme...

...needs to be hit, over and over and over again, right up 'til election day '04...

[w4rma]

7. Very true! Turn this so-called "conventional wisdom" on it's head!

Bush is VERY BAD for national security.

Bush is dishonorable and he needs to be thrown out of office to preserve America's honor.

Besides, IMHO, this so-called "conventional wisdom" is many times some talking point put out by the RNC to have their friends in the press repeat it over and over to intimidate Dems from going on the offensive.

[gratuitous]

8. Great to hear it!

Keep working this thing over, friends and neighbors. The issue isn't going to go away, even if tomorrow "coalition" troops uncover a nuclear arsenal that would put the former Soviet Union to shame. Lies have been told, promulgated and perpetuated, and thousands of people have died as a direct result. Putting the hat on Tenet isn't good enough, not by a long shot. There needs to be some real accountability over this and other failures, going back to September 11 and NSA Rice's preposterous claim that no one could have conceived of hijacked planes being used as weapons.

I hope Rockefeller starts tag-teaming with Byrd to call this corrupt administration to account. They've finally had to stop to answer serious charges. Let's pile them up, and move them on from being merely on the defensive to being on the run!

[dfong63]

9. i'm gonna enjoy

... watching condi try to squirm her way out of this. if the cia knew something, and passed it on to the white house, but bush* never got it... that's gotta represent a failure of bush*'s national security advisor. condi's finger-pointing leads right back to her own ass.

and if tenet were really at fault here, does anyone believe that bush* wouldn't have fired him long ago? instead bush* proclaims his continuing faith in the man who supposedly was responsible for allowing lies to get into the SotU speech, and humiliating america.

yeah, right.