BREAKING: "What Bush Was Told About Iraq" : National Journal

[npincus]

http://hotstory.nationaljournal.com/articles/0302nj1.htm

Two highly classified intelligence reports delivered directly to President Bush before the Iraq war cast doubt on key public assertions made by the president, Vice President Cheney, and other administration officials as justifications for invading Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein, according to records and knowledgeable sources.

The first report, delivered to Bush in early October 2002, was a one-page summary of a National Intelligence Estimate that discussed whether Saddam's procurement of high-strength aluminum tubes was for the purpose of developing a nuclear weapon.

Among other things, the report stated that the Energy Department and the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research believed that the tubes were "intended for conventional weapons," a view disagreeing with that of other intelligence agencies, including the CIA, which believed that the tubes were intended for a nuclear bomb.

The disclosure that Bush was informed of the DOE and State dissents is the first evidence that the president himself knew of the sharp debate within the government over the aluminum tubes during the time that he, Cheney, and other members of the Cabinet were citing the tubes as clear evidence of an Iraqi nuclear program. Neither the president nor the vice president told the public about the disagreement among the agencies.

more....

[converted_democrat]

1. K&R... Seems to be alot of stuff coming out this week...

Another good snip-
On at least four earlier occasions, beginning in the spring of 2002, according to the same records and sources, the president was informed during his morning intelligence briefing that U.S. intelligence agencies believed it was unlikely that Saddam was an imminent threat to the United States.

However, in the months leading up to the war, Bush, Cheney, and Cabinet members repeatedly asserted that Saddam was likely to use chemical or biological weapons against the United States or to provide such weapons to Al Qaeda or another terrorist group.

[BlueEyedSon]

3. Yeah Cheney may have to shoot someone else in the face

[stepnw1f]

25. lol

Oh that was rich.

[Yavin4]

31. I Nominate His Wife, Lynne

Love to see her shut up.

[jazzjunkysue]

45. No: Rummy. Definitely Rummy.

[PurpleChez]

32. First, I guess he'll shoot someone from AP for those Katrina briefing

videos. Then he can start shooting people over this. Of course, the Freeptards will find a way to explain why that is a good thing.

[BlueEyedSon]

33. I meant as a DIVERSION.

[PurpleChez]

47. He'll just have to find some other clods to shoot in the face then.

I'm sure there are legions of Freepers who would welcome the opportunity to be shot in the face by Dick Cheney, and who would then apologize for getting in the way of the bullets and causing so much trouble.

[BlueEyedSon]

50. 8^)

[calimary]

28. And nicely enough, NONE of it in any "Friday Night News Dump," either.

Not sure why.

Are there people somewhere within the administration having guilty consciences? Are these same people possibly aware of press manipulation (as in - the "Friday Night News Dump" that won't show up on any big-ass network news show until maybe Monday when other stuff will have come up to move it off the hot spot)? Are there, thus, some administration insiders who are trying to make karmic amends? Souls CAN be saved. Maybe even SOME in this gawdawful regime. Maybe there are some people who just can't stand behind any of this anymore.

I don't know. Could certainly be a coincidence. But then again, you know what they say about coincidences... (as in - "there's no such thing as...")

[Delphinus]

38. I know!

I'm hoping this will all put a stop to any Iran invasion plans.

[HuffleClaw]

63. when the cats away...

he always gets burned when he runs off on a holiday. (or in this case a trip to make some arms deals)

[Drum]

2. K & R !!!

:kick:

[AlCzervik]

4. Murry Waas has done some great reporting this year.

[wordpix]

53. this is a really great article--dumbass* can't read more than a page about

the aluminum tube debate, but he's all prepared to go to war.

[bvar22]

5. The "Aluminum Tubes" lie was debunked the first week

after the Republicans floated that LIE.
Numerous experts publicly stated that these tubes were unsuitable for use in centrifuges.
We at DU were well aware that this was a LIE.
The MEDIA is to blame for NOT making this info widely available.

[0007]

17. Is that your car?

[bvar22]

22. Yes.

The bumper stickers are home made and are on a magnetic base.
Printout whatever you want with a good inkjet printer on glossy PhotoPaper.
The magentic base is available from craft stores in sheets, and comes with a "peel off" sticky backing.
Put your print out on the magnetic base and cut to size.
Use transparent tape to protect the ink on your sticker or it will run in the rain.

I have a bunch of different stickers, and change them for variety, current events, or to suit my mood.

[eyepaddle]

34. NIce Car bvar22!

:hi:

how's it goign, have you been to many more of the meet-ups?

[0007]

41. That is indeed great.....thanks for the tip

[UpInArms]

6. Here's a record of the lies that this maladministration spewed

[leftchick]

8. that is a beauty

in a perfect format even a freeper could understand.

[UpInArms]

18. it is easily printed

here is the link address (remove the spaces to get there)

http://www. oldamericancentury.org/carnegiegraph .gif

[stop the bleeding]

10. That is great!!! n/t

[leQ]

42. just what the doctor ordered! thanks! (eom)

[wordpix]

54. Thanks. It is so outrageous this lying *admin gets away with all their

LIES about reasons to go to war, which has resulted in thousands upon thousands of deaths in Iraq and total chaos and yet only a few in Congress are calling for impeachment. These SOB repukes think nothing of impeaching a pres for lying about a BJ, though.

Meanwhile, most of the Dems have yet to call for impeachment.

On a more hopeful note, it does appear that lots of people are leaking lots of documents, which hopefully will lead to impeachment after we get a Democratic majority in Congress! IF!

[Scout1071]

7. K&R

[stop the bleeding]

9. whistling through teeth right now, what an outstanding article. WTG

MW I will comment more in bit, but for whoever has not read it go and read it.

On numerous other occasions, Cheney, then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and then-U.N. Ambassador John Negroponte cited Iraq's procurement of aluminum tubes without disclosing that the intelligence community was split as to their end use. The fact that the president was informed of the dissents by Energy and State is also significant because Rice and other administration officials have said that Bush did not know about those dissenting views when he made claims about the purported uses for the tubes.

On July 11, 2003, aboard Air Force One during a presidential trip to Africa, Rice was asked about the National Intelligence Estimate and whether the president knew of the dissenting views among intelligence agencies regarding Iraq's procurement of the aluminum tubes.

Months earlier, disagreement existed within the administration over how to characterize the aluminum tubes in a speech that then-Secretary of State Colin Powell gave to the U.N. on February 5, 2003. Breaking ranks with others in the administration, Powell decided to refer to the internal debate among government agencies over Iraq's intended use of the tubes.

Asked about this by a reporter on Air Force One, Rice said: "I'm saying that when we put together... the secretary decided that he would caveat the aluminum tubes, which he did.... The secretary also has an intelligence arm that happened to hold that view."

Rice added, "Now, if there were any doubts about the underlying intelligence to that NIE, those doubts were not communicated to the president, to the vice president, or to me."


~snip~

But the one-page summary, several senior government officials said in interviews, was written specifically for Bush, was handed to the president by then-CIA Director George Tenet, and was read in Tenet's presence.

In addition, Rice, Cheney, and dozens of other high-level Bush administration policy makers received a highly classified intelligence assessment, known as a Senior Executive Memorandum, on the aluminum tubes issue. Circulated on January 10, 2003, the memo was titled "Questions on Why Iraq Is Procuring Aluminum Tubes and What the IAEA Has Found to Date."

~snip~

Cheney received virtually the same intelligence information, according to the same records and interviews. The president's summaries have been shared with the vice president as a matter of course during the Bush presidency.

~snip~

During the second half of 2002, the president and vice president repeatedly cited the threat from Saddam in their public statements. "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us," Cheney declared on August 26, 2002, to the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Goes on to name dates and statements, and a whole lot more.

[Fridays Child]

11. We can't expect * to read 90 whole pages before deciding to...

...lay ruin to a sovereign nation and devastate its people. And, gosh, a text box "positioned far away from the main text of the report" is way too ridiculous to even think of looking at. Case closed. /sarcasm

:mad:

"The lengthier NIE -- more than 90 pages -- contained significantly more detail describing the disagreement between the CIA and the Pentagon's DIA on one hand, which believed that the tubes were meant for centrifuges, and State's INR and the Energy Department, which believed that they were meant for artillery shells. Administration officials had said that the president would not have read the full-length paper. They also had said that many of the details of INR's dissent were contained in a special text box that was positioned far away from the main text of the report."

[stop the bleeding]

15. The preznit and Darth Cheney were given one page summaries see here

The one-page October 2002 President's Summary specifically told Bush that although "most agencies judge" that the use of the aluminum tubes was "related to a uranium enrichment effort... INR and DOE believe that the tubes more likely are intended for conventional weapons uses."

The lengthier NIE -- more than 90 pages -- contained significantly more detail describing the disagreement between the CIA and the Pentagon's DIA on one hand, which believed that the tubes were meant for centrifuges, and State's INR and the Energy Department, which believed that they were meant for artillery shells. Administration officials had said that the president would not have read the full-length paper. They also had said that many of the details of INR's dissent were contained in a special text box that was positioned far away from the main text of the report.

~snip~

According to interviews and records, Bush personally read the one-page summary in Tenet's presence during the morning intelligence briefing, and the two spoke about it at some length. Sources familiar with the summary said it was highly significant that the president was informed that it was the unanimous conclusion of the intelligence agencies participating in the production of the January 2003 NIE that Saddam was unlikely to consider attacking the U.S. unless Iraq was attacked first.

Cheney received virtually the same intelligence information, according to the same records and interviews. The president's summaries have been shared with the vice president as a matter of course during the Bush presidency.

Now we/you should be even angier - :argh::argh::argh:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

48. I'd laugh if I weren't crying.

"...INR's dissent were contained in a special text box that was positioned far away from the main text of the report."

I believe it can still be found at Yucca Mountain.

[wordpix]

55. gawd forbid BushCheney would do some homework before going to war

[file83]

12. When will this Nightmare ever end? n/t

[maxsolomon]

30. pretty much no

its got 3 years, min.

[saigon68]

61. When the chimp kills all the Islamics

Except the ones who drink scotch and have mistresses to SERVICE THEM in France and Monaco

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. Once again, something we should have been told BEFORE the last

election.

[katty]

14. the OTHER PTB's are hittin' bush/cheney hard every day!!

[arwalden]

16. PTB? What's That?

As soon as you tell me, I'll probably be thinking "OH-YEAH!"... but for now, I can't figure out what you mean.

[grasswire]

26. I think it's "powers that be" (eom)

[arwalden]

27. Ahh... okay. I understand now. (That's a new one for me though.)

Thanks!

[wordpix]

56. WHO are these PTB's leaking documents? Looks like it's a movement to

IMPEACH THE CHIMP ADMIN.

[Piscis Austrinus]

68. Looks to me like a split betwen the neocons and Christian right

If you look carefully at the neocon agenda pre-Bush, you see some interesting conflicts between then and now. True neocons were defintely pro-preemptive war and pro-free-market. However, that stance, however you may feel about it, was clearly tempered by a regard for individual liberties as set out in the Bill of Rights.

BushCo rode a wave of free-market support, but that alone was not enough to help him win. He needed two other things - the grass-roots support of the far Christian right, and a certain amount of, well, dubious pre-election activity in certain key states. Having been elected, they have tried to implement both groups' agendas while simultaneously lining the pockets of their wealthiest supporters.

Herein lies the problem: the agenda of the Dominionist and Christian Reconstructionist groups is completely at odds with the original neoconservative take on individual rights. It is my opinion that the religious conservatives have pretty much peaked, and that the devices that they are now using to try to maintain their current sway are generating more opposition than support. The "true" neocons know this, and it is becoming apparent to them that this diseased alliance between themselves and the Christofascists has become a lodestone of unpopularity and resentment toward them. The whiff of corruption around this administration and its party - which has grown into a choking miasma - has given the religious politicians a bad name which, given the tenets of their faith, many of them thoroughly deserve.

In short, I think that BushCo is trying to keep both groups in the fold, and it's not working. I have no doubt of the eventual outcome; the true neocons have a lot more access to corporate power and money, because their agenda is a much better one for business than that of the religious right, whose only use now is that they influence a bloc of voters that is nearly in lockstep with its leadership.


Given the rising unpopularity of this president through the use of tactics which fly in the face of individual rights and are only excusable to those persons who operate more on faith than is probably good for them, I think that the Christian right is going to get pushed over the side, with Bush chained to them. Dick Cheney is a horrible, dangerous man (even when he's not carrying a shotgun), but I actually think I would prefer him to Bush on one front: I don't see him buying into the Dominionist heresy. Using it, maybe, but not if the political price is too high. Since that price (like prices everywhere) is steadily rising, I would not be surprised at all to see an impeachment - or a resignation.

Peace
PsA

on edit: grammatical correction

[stop the bleeding]

19. QUESTION -

Who else was in Bush and Tenet's presence?

According to interviews and records, Bush personally read the one-page summary in Tenet's presence during the morning intelligence briefing, and the two spoke about it at some length.

According to interviews- Does this matter??? Were there other people there??? Who were they? Cheney, recorder/stenographer???

Maybe top ex-CIA - there has been an exodus in the since Goss took over.

I will be away for a few hours but if people have some thoughts on this please share.

Thank you in advance.

[Barrett808]

20. Waas shows they lied about WMD, and they lied about what they were told

...by US intelligence.

Impeach.

[gratuitous]

21. Our military was sent off to kill and die based on this?

Some people might say our faultless, freckle-faced, star-spangled, red-white-and-true-blue boys and girls in uniform were torturing folks, killing folks, and dying by the hundreds for nothing.

[babylonsister]

23. Is it impeachment YET? nt

[wordpix]

57. a sane person would think so but the repukes aren't in full mutiny--yet

I guess they want to go down with their whackjob captain of the pirate ship BushCo.

[Higans]

24. I knew this info when bush was lieling cause of the Blogs. now they are

trying to kill the blogs.
<a href="http://www.netfreedomnow.org"><img border="0" alt="Keep your freedom of Internet choice and reasonable Internet cost" title="Keep your freedom of Internet choice and reasonable Internet cost" src=""/></a>

[progressoid]

29. I'm shocked. Shocked I tell ya.

[Festivito]

35. Sooo, WHOOOSE intelligence was bad?

Oooh, Booosh's*, of course. Now I get it.

He had bad Intelligence, was he had bad intelligence. And still does.

[Synnical]

36. Bob Graham writes about this in his book, "Intelligence Matters"

Snippet from a Mother Jones interview:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/qa/2004/11/11_401.html

Bob Graham
Interviewed By Jeff Fleischer

November 23, 2004

MJ.com: Do you see the way intelligence was handled before the Iraq war as strictly an intelligence failure or as a consequence of political pressure from the administration?

BG: I would say it was the willingness of the intelligence agencies to be co-opted for political reasons. As early as the spring of 2002, the White House had called CIA representatives down to begin preparing what would be a public document to make the case that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, weapons that could be used on an immediate basis and therefore required pre-emptive action to eliminate. When we got into the hearings on that issue in the August/September period of 2002, we were aware that what the intelligence community was telling us privately was not the same as what they were telling the American people publicly; that conditions and limitations that were being given in a closed session were eliminated in the public documents. Comments on Saddam Hussein’s actual willingness to use weapons of mass destruction -- assuming he had them -- were much more restricted in private briefings than what the administration was releasing to the American people. That was one of the reasons I voted against the authorization to go to war when it came before the Senate in early October of 2002.

[Catrina]

70. So how many other Senators knew what Graham knew, and if they

did, why did they vote for the IWR? More and more I have questions about those who went along with all this ~

If this is ever investigated, will Senators and Congressmen also be held accountable, because if what Graham says is true, that there was really good reason to question the administration's claims and because of that, he voted 'no', what about the others?

Iow, did they know what Graham knew and commit the country to war, making them complicit? Is that the reason why there's no real push for a thorough investigation of the War Lies? Just wondering!

[Duppers]

37. yet more HARD EVIDENCE of an IMPEACHABLE offense

Now to get a congress with the balls to do justice.

This is more spit in the eyes of every military person serving and in the families of those killed and wounded.

May this administration rot in hell!

[thereismore]

39. Chimpy is out of town - all hell breaks loose. nt

[katty]

43. Chimpy will have quite a homecoming after this week.

[wordpix]

58. he might prefer staying in India or Pakistan--whoops, he's hated there,too

[goforit]

40. 911 = Mihop as evidence piles up.

[Miss Chybil]

44. This is old news. nt

[Media_Lies_Daily]

46. Not to the MSM. It's very new to them.

[robbedvoter]

49. My BUSH KNEW button gets more relevant every day...911, Katrina

Iraq - the lies are exposed every day...

[goclark]

52. Right~ they always say that "he didn't know

until much later."

Remember that shocked expression on his face when he was reading about his Pet Goat!

The look of totally out of the loop ----wrong!

He knew and LIHOP.

[Piscis Austrinus]

69. Faith-based governance

This "Bush didn't know" device has a clear origin: there is no way, NO WAY, that Bush can say he even knew anything about anything involving anything that harms the American public or is patently illegal. It would not only damage him and his party, but also the religious movement that forms a significant bloc of their common voter base.

Any Christian who continues to support a proven, or even convincingly accused, president is going to make their whole movement look awful (or, to more jaundiced eyes, even worse than before). This probably hurt Al Gore more than a lot of people realize. It's hurting the fundamentalist Christians now, and will only get worse. People have short attention spans, but when it comes to wrongdoing, they often have surprisingly long memories.

So - we are stuck with someone who has to look bumbling so that he doesn't look evil. "The nice thing about having a reputation for being stupid is that people tend to be less suspicious of you." (James Fleet, "Four Weddings and a Funeral")

Peace
PsA

[Terran1212]

51. My suprise level : -205

[EVDebs]

59. Iranian intelligence and their US tools endanger us all = Treason ?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1357492#1357514

and besides, they just dusted off the 30 yr old plans Cheney was familiar with during Nixon's flirtation with oil field seizures in 1973, silenced the NYTimes from doing real reporting into becoming a media lapdog, and voila !, you get a policy the Iranians love, the Israelis love, and the only ones shedding blood are US troops and Iraqis

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=379516

It will take some time for everyone to wise up. Hopefully by November '06.

The permanent bases issue is the driving force behind the Iraqi populace's support of attacks on US troops, btw,

New WPO Poll: Iraqi Public Wants Timetable for US Withdrawal, But Thinks US Plans Permanent Bases in Iraq--Half of Iraqis Approve of Attacks on US Forces, Including 9 Out of 10 Sunnis

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/home_page/165.php?nid=&id=&pnt=165&lb=hmpg1

[Trevelyan]

60. God Bless the Whistleblowers. Go to Sibyl Edmonds site and thank her by

signing her petition to ungag her and unredact her testimony UNDER OATH at the 911 Commission Hearings. Sibyl also links to her government Whistleblower protection group and there is information on Russell Tice and his attempt to tell Congress about more NSA spying endangering Americans.

http://www.JustACitizen.com

[EVDebs]

65. Just what it the world is the government trying to hide ?

""Edmonds is not the first avowed national security whistle-blower to suffer retaliation at the hands of a government bureaucracy that feels threatened or embarrassed. But being fired is one thing. Edmonds has also been prevented from proceeding with her court challenge or even speaking with complete freedom about the case.

On top of the usual prohibition against disclosing classified information, the Bush administration has smothered her case beneath the all-encompassing blanket of the “state-secrets privilege”—a Draconian and rarely used legal weapon that allows the government, merely by asserting a risk to national security, to prevent the lawsuits Edmonds has filed contesting her treatment from being heard in court at all. According to the Department of Justice, to allow Edmonds her day in court, even at a closed hearing attended only by personnel with full security clearance, “could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to the foreign policy and national security of the United States.”

Using the state-secrets privilege in this fashion is unusual, says Edmonds’s attorney Ann Beeson, of the American Civil Liberties Union. “It also begs the question: Just what in the world is the government trying to hide?”"" -- from Vanity Fair's An Inconvenient Patriot

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9774.htm

[HuffleClaw]

62. "...the first evidence that the president himself knew of...

...the sharp debate within the government over the aluminum tubes during the time that he, Cheney, and other members of the Cabinet were citing the tubes as clear evidence of an Iraqi nuclear program." BULLSHIT 'first evidence' my foot. its long been known they quashed any dissenting views on this crap, and that powell himself was pissed off at having to lie about it.

[donheld]

64. Why is it only us at DU seem to give a damn about this stuff

There should be massive protests in every street over this shit.

[cantstandbush]

66. Because we're smarter and care more about our nation?

that's what I am left with. DUers seem to care more about our nation as a whole and the poor and working masses than the oligarchy class made up of our government officials, the Bushbots, and the judges and their staffs on the courts at all levels.

[npincus]

67. MSM totally IGNORING this story.

kicking for the weekend crowd.

[Toucano]

71. They already covered their asses on this.

"...we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."
October 6, 2002.

This "highly classified intelligence report" is meaningless to us. The people of the United States don't have a problem the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war.