Posts Tagged iraq
Bush lies about lying
If two wrongs make a right, do two lies make a truth? Not only did Bush lie about Iraq and WMDs, he lied last week when he said the intelligence was faulty.
In an interview with the Politico and Yahoo! News, President Bush blamed faulty intelligence.
“I don’t think so. … Intelligence communities all across the world shared the same assessment. And so I was disappointed to see how flawed our intelligence was.”
“Do I think somebody lied to me?” he said. “No, I don’t. I think it was just, you know, they analyzed the situation and came up with the wrong conclusion.”
Yes, they did analyze the situation. They came to the right conclusion. You ignored it and now you’re blaming intelligence,
Let’s take a look at the intelligence the Bush administration ignored going into Iraq:
1. As early as September 12, 2001, Bush administration officials quietly questioned the claims. Richard Clarke, Bush’s then counterterrorism advisor, responded to Bush’s query whether Hussein was linked to the attacks.
“But you know, we have looked several times for state sponsorship of al Qaeda and not found any real linkages to Iraq.”
2. Beginning November of 2001, Defense Undersecretary Douglas Feith led a team to explore the relationship between Iraq and Al-Qaeda. Almost a year later, the team briefed Colin Powell and then-CIA director George Tenet on their findings. On September 25th 2002, Bush linked the two:
“They’re both risks, they’re both dangerous. The difference, of course, is that Al Qaeda likes to hijack governments. Saddam Hussein is a dictator of a government. Al Qaeda hides, Saddam doesn’t, but the danger is, is that they work in concert. The danger is, is that Al Qaeda becomes an extension of Saddam’s madness and his hatred and his capacity to extend weapons of mass destruction around the world.”
In July of the same year, the Defense Intelligence Agency found “compelling evidence demonstrating direct cooperation between the government of Iraq and Al Qaeda has not been established, despite a large body of anecdotal information.”
In April 2001, the CIA drafted a report called Iraqi Support for Terrorism, that found “no credible information that Baghdad had foreknowledge of the 11 September attacks or any other al-Qaeda strike.”
3. September 8th, 2002:
“We do know that he is actively pursuing a nuclear weapon. We do know there have been shipments going into . . . Iraq, for instance, of aluminum tubes that really are only suited to—high-quality aluminum tools that only really suited for nuclear weapons programs, centrifuge programs.”
In April 2001, the Energy Department concluded that “while the gas centrifuge application cannot be ruled out, we assess that the procurement activity more likely supports a different application, such as conventional ordnance production.” In September of 2002 when the CIA was preparing the NIE, the Department reminded them of their findings. The CIA ignored them.
4. In his September 28 radio address, Bush claimed:
The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons, is rebuilding the facilities to make more and, according to the British government, could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes after the order is given. The regime has long-standing and continuing ties to terrorist groups, and there are al Qaeda terrorists inside Iraq. This regime is seeking a nuclear bomb, and with fissile material could build one within a year.”
Until three weeks ago, there was no National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq and WMDS. The CIA scrambled to complete one, later debunked by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: “Postwar findings do not support the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) judgment that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program.”
5. His 2003 State of the Union addresses mentioned Iraq buying Uranium from African countries.
“The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”
As early as March 2002, the intelligence community was divided about the link. During that month the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research published a report named “Niger: Sale of Uranium to Iraq Is Unlikely.”
During July of that year, the Energy Department found “no information indicating that any of the uranium shipments arrived in Iraq” and the “amount of uranium specified far exceeds what Iraq would need even for a robust nuclear weapons program.”
The 2006 Senate Select Committee on Intelligence confirmed this:
“Postwar findings do not support the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) assessment that Iraq was ‘vigorously trying to procure uranium ore and yellowcake’ from Africa. Postwar findings support the assessment in the NIE of the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) that claims of Iraqi pursuit of natural uranium in Africa are ‘highly dubious.”
6. On February 3, 2003 Colin Powell presented to the UN.
“My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we’re giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence. I will cite some examples, and these are from human sources.”
He also claimed that “a senior terrorist operative telling how Iraq provided training in these weapons [of mass destruction] to Al Qaeda.”
Six days earlier, the CIA had concluded that the detainee “was not in a position to know if any training had taken place.”
No Mr. Bush, the intelligence was correct. What you took from that intelligence and told the American people is what’s flawed.
Thanks Center for Public Integrity!
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2 comments May 31, 2008
5/30 News
CIA says Al-Qaeda in trouble
Al-Qaeda is near defeat, according to CIA director Michael Hayden. He said the organization collapsing in its strongest areas, Saudia Arabia and Iraq. He also cited global advances as the religion of Islam distances itself from its extremists.
“Near strategic defeat of al Qaeda in Iraq. Near strategic defeat for al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. Significant setbacks for al Qaeda globally — and here I’m going to use the word ‘ideologically,’ as a lot of the Islamic world pushes back on their form of Islam,” Hayden said this morning in a Washington Post interview.
Bush releases climate change report
The White House bowed in to a court decision and released a climate change report online yesterday. The report reiterates much evidence like the spread of heat-loving pests and the effect of rising sea levels. It also projects the health effects of a warmer global climate.
The Scientific Assessment of the Effects of Global Change on the United States predicts heat waves will pose a threat to children and elderly adults. It estimates the spread of the spread of food and water-borne diseases plus animal-spread viruses like West Nile.
A 1990 law requires the president to submit to Congress a report on global climate and the environment every four years. The last report was released by the Clinton Administration. Bush releases a series of reports in 2003 but a circuit judge decided that didn’t fit the requirements.
Bush authorized Libby leak
Scott McClellan’s controversial memoir hasn’t even been published yet, and is already creating a stir. It not only criticizes the administration but brings to light new information regarding the Scooter Libby leak case. According to the book, President Bush personally authorized Scooter Libby to leak classified information, including the identity of Valerie Plame, to select media sources.
The AP provides this excerpt:
The president was leaving an event in North Carolina, McClellan recalled, and as they walked to Air Force One a reporter yelled out a question: Had the president, who had repeatedly condemned the selective release of secret intelligence information, enabled Scooter Libby to leak classified information to The New York Times to bolster the administration’s arguments for war?
McClellan took the question to the president, telling Bush: “He’s saying you yourself were the one that authorized the leaking of this information.”
“And he said, ‘Yeah, I did.’ And I was kind of taken aback,” McClellan said.
“For me I came to the decision that at that point I needed to look for a way to move on, because it had undermined, I think, a lot of what we had said.”
1 comment May 30, 2008
5/28 News
Bush planning Iran attack by August
The Bush Administration is planning an Iran air strike within the next two months, according to an anonymous source who appears to have talked to several other media outlets as well. Two US senators were briefed on the matter and plan to go public with their opposition the source says.
The source is a retired US diplomat and a former assistant Secretary of State. It says that the US is planning to air strike the headquarters of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps’ elite forces, the Quds. Likely targets include garrisons near the Iran-Iraq border.
Last year the Senate passed a non-binding resolution classifying Qud as a terrorist organization. The Bush Administration has also accused Iran of helping Iraqi insurgents and still insists on the potency of their probably now-defunct nuclear weapons program.
The source claimed that Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) would write a op-ed in the New York Times “within days.”
Former Press Secretary attacks Bush Administration
Former White House Press Secretary attacks Bush’s misinformation and propaganda regarding the Iraq War, the CIA leak case and the “Scooter” Libby case in his memoir hitting bookstores next week. He also attacks the press corps for going to easy on the Administration in the days following up to the war.
The tone is harsher than expected. McClellan was one of Bush’s first and most loyal aides but wastes little space on nostalgia and praise. He also attacks the Administration for their denial and lack of action regarding Hurricane Katrina.
“I had allowed myself to be deceived into unknowingly passing along a falsehood,” McClellan writes. “It would ultimately prove fatal to my ability to serve the president effectively. I didn’t learn that what I’d said was untrue until the media began to figure it out almost two years later,” he remarked about the Libby case.
McCain’s voting record in line with Bush
John McCain and George Bush have strikingly similar voting records, according to a recent CQ report. The report tracked when McCain was present to vote and when President Bush stated an explicit opinion of a bill since 2001.
Though McCain has been busy campaigning, he voted 100% in line with President Bush. The rest of the time his support borders between 90%-95%.
Add comment May 28, 2008
5/27 News
McCain staff advise Obama attack group
Recently John McCain created the “Relevant Policy” for campaign members, prohibiting his staff from participating in a 527 or any other independent group that endorses or criticizes presidential candidates. However, the Daily Kos has picked up some stinging information regarding Vets for Freedom, a Joe Lieberman-backed 527 group that recently launched an Obama attack add.
The clincher is that both Lieberman and Senator Lindsey Graham serve as McCain campaign co-chairs and honorary advisors to Vets for Freedom.
Graham recently appeared on CBS and reiterated the attack ads claim that Obama hasn’t visited Iraq in two years and his platform has suffered because of it.
UN says Iran is uncooperative
A UN watchdog agency said yesterday that Iran’s nuclear research regarding warheads is concerning and demands “substantive explanations.” The International Atomic Energy Agency reports that Iran has built roughly 500 more uranium-enriching centrifuges since February, when 3000 were discovered at the underground Natanz facility. The report also accuses Iran of a lack of cooperation.
Fidel Castro comments on Obama
Barack Obama received a mixed endorsement from Fidel Castro this weekend, who called Obama the “most progressive candidate to the U.S. presidency” but criticized him for pledging to continue the Cuba embargo.
The topic arose when Obama talked to the Cuban American National Foundation and explained the embargo must continue to pressure Cuba to turn democratic. However; Obama said he would relax travel restrictions and exchanging money. Castro refrained from praising him wholly, saying “Were I to defend him, I would do his adversaries an enormous favor. I have therefore no reservations about criticizing him.”
Obama grows superdelegate lead
Obama picked up six more superdelegates this weekend, raising his total to 1974.5. A former Alaskan governor and three Hawaiian party members advanced Obama’s superdelegate lead. He is now 51.5 delegates from the nomination.
Add comment May 27, 2008
5/23 News
Senate adds veto-proof domestic provisions to Iraq spending bill
Yesterday the Senate ignored Bush’s pledge to veto extra provisions on the Iraq spending bill and added $10 billion more in domestic programs. 25 Senate Republicans broke ranks to provide veto-proof funding for fighting wildfires, heating for the poor and infrastructure repair. The Senate also voted 70-26 for Bush’s military operations bill while adding extensive G.I. benefits.
The House recently rejected an earlier spending bill but has endorsed the veteran and unemployed benefits in the new bill. However, its version omitted most domestic programs and included a slight upper-class tax increase to fund the GI bill. However, the House vote lacked a 2/3 majority and its bill will have to be compromised with the Senate version which, if the GI benefits are included, Bush will veto.
Myanmar to allow aid workers
According to U.N. officials, Myanmar’s military junta will admit foreign aid workers to harder-hit areas of the region. A cyclone three weeks ago left 2.4 million destitute and foreign aid has been trickling in. The government has also asked for 11.7 billion and will allow its Yangon airport to distribute aid packages.
McCain rejects Hagee’s comments, endorsement
John McCain told CNN’s Brian Todd Thursday that he rejected the comments and endorsement of the controversial Reverend John Hagee after Todd brought to McCain’s attention Hagee’s claim that Hitler was fulfilling God’s will by trying to exterminate them.
“Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Rev. Hagee’s endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well.” said McCain in a statement to CNN. Hagee soon withdrew his endorsement and pledged to abstain from the 2008 presidential election.
FBI includes Guantanamo Bay in war crimes report
The FBI Inspector General released a 370-page report this week which included a “War Crimes” file regarding the torture the FBI witnessed at Guantanamo Bay prison. The administration ordered the FBI to stop writing the reports but a government official’s confirmation of what many already suspect adds to the war crime firestorm brewing over Guantanamo.
Add comment May 23, 2008
