Political war games (Bush sabotages WMD Commission)

[papau]

Political war games (Bush sabotages WMD Commission)

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/auto/epaper/editions/wedn...

Political war games

Palm Beach Post Editorial
Wednesday, February 4, 2004

President Bush will appoint a commission to find out why intelligence about Iraq's weapons was so bad. This isn't the first time he has approved an investigation that he initially opposed. Will Mr. Bush treat the Iraq panel as badly as he has treated the 9/11 commission?

President Bush's administration has stonewalled the 9/11 commission, refusing to hand over requested documents. Having thwarted attempts to discover whether the CIA, FBI and others could have prevented the 9/11 attacks, the White House and Republicans in Congress now oppose attempts to extend the 9/11 commission's deadline. Though the victims' families especially want ample time to learn how Al-Qaeda so successfully attacked, Mr. Bush is afraid that the 9/11 commission will report embarrassing findings too close to the November election.

President Bush's plans for the new commission on Iraq leave no doubt that timing is more important to the White House than results. The panel will not report until next year. Mr. Bush says, "I want to know all the facts," but does he want Americans to know all the facts? The president intends to appoint all members of the Iraq weapons commission himself. The president also intends to steer the panel toward a wide-ranging, "forward-looking" assessment that will study other failures, such as bad information on North Korea and Iran. That approach obviously is intended to obscure his administration's role in warping Iraq intelligence to justify the invasion.

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Comment from "misleader"

Bush sabotages WMD Commission before it starts


Over the last two days, President Bush and the White House have claimed that they are going to establish an "independent" commission to promptly investigate the over-hyping of intelligence before the Iraq war. But as details come out about the White House's proposal, it appears the commission will be neither independent nor prompt.

Specifically, the president will appoint the entire commission himself,
breaking the previous tradition of allowing lawmakers from both parties to appoint commission members. Although lawmakers have raised objections to the commission's lack of independence, the White House is moving forward with its plans.

Additionally, despite the fact that the commission's work will be critical to national security, the president will only authorize a commission that produces a report after the election -- so as to minimize any political fallout for himself. This contrasts sharply to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is putting national security ahead of politics. As the Los Angeles Times reports, "in contrast to a bipartisan investigating committee announced by Bush, the British panel is to announce its conclusions by July. That would put any damaging disclosures for Blair's government well in advance of parliamentary elections, expected in 2005." It also contrasts with similar investigations in the United States. In 1983, after the terrorist attacks on U.S. troops in Beirut, a commission was appointed and
finished its work within 3 months.

As one major newspaper editorial board summed up, "The president's goal is to delay any objective findings about prewar intelligence until after the election, leaving him free to decide what the administration knew and didn't know and who is to blame." And the President's continued misleading on WMD could come at a price. As Republican Senator Chuck Hagel said, a failure to convince the public that Bush did not "exaggerate" the case for war "would put the president in a very bad position. He said people would start asking, "Do we trust his word? Do we trust him to lead this country?"

http://www.misleader.org/daily_mislead/Read.asp?fn=df02042004.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/02/20040202-1.html

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/auto/epaper/editions/wedn...


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-blair4feb04,1,5482...


http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/7859530.htm

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=1627295

[gWbush is Mabus]

1. The only silver lining is...

if Bush appoints all the people himself,
we will know who all the traitorous SCUMBAGS are.

[4morewars]

2. Do you think....

......*bush hears the looney tunes theme song in his head all day, or just sometimes?