Key Bush Intelligence Briefing Kept From Hill Panel (Saddam-Qaeda Link)

[wookie294]

By Murray Waas, special to National Journal
© National Journal Group Inc.
Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2005

Ten days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush was told in a highly classified briefing that the U.S. intelligence community had no evidence linking the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein to the attacks and that there was scant credible evidence that Iraq had any significant collaborative ties with Al Qaeda, according to government records and current and former officials with firsthand knowledge of the matter.

The information was provided to Bush on September 21, 2001 during the "President's Daily Brief," a 30- to 45-minute early-morning national security briefing. Information for PDBs has routinely been derived from electronic intercepts, human agents, and reports from foreign intelligence services, as well as more mundane sources such as news reports and public statements by foreign leaders.

One of the more intriguing things that Bush was told during the briefing was that the few credible reports of contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda involved attempts by Saddam Hussein to monitor the terrorist group. Saddam viewed Al Qaeda as well as other theocratic radical Islamist organizations as a potential threat to his secular regime. At one point, analysts believed, Saddam considered infiltrating the ranks of Al Qaeda with Iraqi nationals or even Iraqi intelligence operatives to learn more about its inner workings, according to records and sources.

(...)

The Senate Intelligence Committee has asked the White House for the CIA assessment, the PDB of September 21, 2001, and dozens of other PDBs as part of the committee's ongoing investigation into whether the Bush administration misrepresented intelligence information in the run-up to war with Iraq. The Bush administration has refused to turn over these documents.

http://nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2005/1122nj1.htm

(Bush lied, soldiers died -- IMPEACH!)

[truthisfreedom]

1. we need to have a special Democratic Oversight Committee specifically

for this misadministration. we need a coup!

[rodeodance]

20. Conyers has tried (like with the dsm)--but as we see, nothing happens.

[MGKrebs]

63. I wouldn't say nothing happens.

It just doesn't happen as much as we would like or as fast as we would like. But I guess it's like turning a big ship- you gotta think way in advance. Things we do today may not show a reaction until 6 months from now.

:toast:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

72. "Nothing happens"??? That and several other items that have been...

...made public over the last couple of years have gotten us to the current point in time where the NeoCons are in full retreat.

[dennisnyc]

51. We need to work our asses off to take back the House in '06!!!!!!!!!

[EFerrari]

2. (whistling)

:eyes:

[indepat]

3. Just a microcosm, just the tip of the proverbial iceberg

[babylonsister]

4. More outrage! And yet as of yesterday

Cheney was still trying to tie Al Qaeda to Iraq. :grr:

[tavalon]

11. Catapulting the propaganda

Doesn't matter if it's true, just that it's repeated over and over and over.

Many Americans have the reasoning skill of a turnip.

[Supersedeas]

79. just one among many to have the clear....release order

[lakeguy]

5. the truth is out there but bushco keeps lyin and the corporate media

and most americans just lap it up. it's like half of the country believes they only have one arm even though they can see both of them. "but the president on the tv SAYS i only have one arm so it must be true."

[rateyes]

6. But, but.....

it's irresponsible to say that the pResident deliberately misled us into war....BS....the reason he's hiding the info is because there's something to hide. The Dems better not let this go until the misadministration is FORCED to turn it all over. Repukes investigating repukes is the blind leading the blind into a ditch.

[leftchick]

7. they actually had this on the screen on CNN today!

:wow:

[thereismore]

8. Better than DSM IMHO. Smoking gun. LIAR LIAR LIAR. nt

[Botany]

Dupe

[Botany]

73. Just change the DSM to Sept 22 PDB

[TheGunslinger]

9. Ok, Conyers! Light the candle of impeachment!!!

[mzmolly]

83. I feel that flame coming.

I do.

[Marnieworld]

10. Thank god there wasn't a blow job though!

What would we tell the children? :sarcasm:

[Rageneau]

13. Nope, just a complete screwing over.

[Marnieworld]

25. This is so Checkmate

Game set match!

"Cheney continued to make the charge, even after he was briefed, according to government records and officials, that both the CIA and the FBI discounted the possibility of such a meeting. "

That's what we never had before. Records proving knowingly lying. They can't defend themselves with the "I just got bad intelligence" routine. No they got good intelligence and they chose to believe, and more importantly, said to the Nation what they wanted to be true.

Smoking Gun and I bet there's more where that came from.

[rodeodance]

27. I head this claim just today from a repug--

[arewenotdemo]

74. good point

[DanCa]

12. Kerry was right again wasn't he?

Why the hell wasn't that great man elected into office?

[ananda]

14. This is it! This is big!

Whoa!

Bush is a criminally psychopathic liar and manipulator. He's gotta go.. now.

Impeach the bastard.

Sue

[greenman3610]

15. has this hit the MSM yet? eom

[wookie294]

17. MSNBC mentioned it

for about 8 seconds.

Then they went back to discussing the hot Florida teacher having sex with a 14 year old student. (I'm not kidding.)

[rodeodance]

24. 8 seconds of enlightenment. whow.

[mzmolly]

85. This IS big.

Very very big. You can bet your ass that congress is going to see that PDB when they continue the "investigation" into pre-war intel.

This is gonna be good. :smoke:

[thecrow]

16. It must have slipped his "mind"

Just like the Aug 8th PDB that slipped Condi's "mind" until she was reminded of the name of the briefing:
"Al-Queda determined to attack inside of USA"

Hmpf. Can't you people give the *ies a break ?

:sarcasm:

[BrklynLiberal]

18. Someone will "inadvertantly" shred these documents....no doubt.

Is there a "Rose Mary Woods" anywhere on the Bush payroll these days?
Didn't they manage to shred all the documents from the FAA interviews right after 9/11?

[MaineDem]

19. Richard Clarke pretty much said this, too

If I remember correctly.

[MsKandice01]

21. I won't allow myself get excited...

Every single day I come across an article and say to myself, "This is it! This is gonna bring the Bush administration down!!" and then nothing happens. Besides tanking poll numbers, these bastards are getting away with all this shit and nothing is being done about it. I won't allow myself to get excited over this...although I do agree, this is HUGE!

[NightOwwl]

22. Chris Mathews just mentioned this on Hardball...

Said he would talk about it later on the show.

[Supersedeas]

80. refusing to turn over the documents -- co-equal branches of govt????

[rodeodance]

23. Feith is mentioned.

.....Earlier this month, on November 14, the Pentagon's inspector general announced an investigation into whether Feith and others associated with the covert intelligence unit engaged in "unauthorized, unlawful, or inappropriate intelligence activities." In a statement, Feith said he is "confident" that investigators will conclude that his "office worked properly and in fact improved the intelligence product by asking good questions."

The Senate Intelligence Committee has also been conducting its own probe of the Pentagon unit. But as was first disclosed by The American Prospect in an article by reporter Laura Rozen, that probe had been hampered by a lack of cooperation from Feith and the Pentagon.

Internal Pentagon records show not only that the small Pentagon unit had the ear of the highest officials in the government, but also that Rumsfeld and others considered the unit as a virtual alternative to intelligence analyses provided by the CIA.

On July 22, 2002, as the run-up to war with Iraq was underway, one of the Naval Reserve officers detailed to the unit sent Feith an e-mail saying that he had just heard that then-Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz wanted "the Iraqi intelligence cell … to prepare an intel briefing on Iraq and links to al-Qaida for the SecDef" and that he was not to tell anyone about it. .......

[Roland99]

26. The last paragraph says it all! Feith and OSP stovepiped intel to the WH

and bypassed the CIA vetting process so that the WHIG could get the "intel" they needed to justify an invasion.

[Straight Shooter]

54. Isn't this exactly what Sy Hersh wrote in The New Yorker a year ago?

Maybe more, maybe less than a year ago. Same terminology, too, "stovepiped."

No one on DU is surprised by this. No one. I think the only reason we're hearing more about it is because people now think it's "safe" to release this info because polls show that the U.S.S. bush-cheney is sinking into very deep, deep water.

[Roland99]

56. Was back in 2003. Yeah, that's where I got the term.

I linked to it on a page I'd put together before the election last year.

http://www.conjur.com/politics/

[ncteechur]

59. Not Needed but WANTED. Cooked from Day One! eom

[Ouabache]

60. Yeah the intel they got was wrong, because they 'manufactured' it

that way !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[arewenotdemo]

75. here's hoping that Wolfowitz doesn't escape unscathed

He was as responsible as any for the carnage in Iraq.

That big Norway rat prolly thinks he jumped ship in the nick of time...

[raysr]

28. Spin this Cheney

You MF-in' POS!!!!!!!!!!

[rodeodance]

33. oh he will.

[Charles19]

50. All that "they saw the same intell we did" was pure LIES !!!!! (n/t)

[Marnieworld]

29. I can't believe this came out on the same day as the Al Jazeera

bombing convogate?! Unbelievable monsters!

[BrklynLiberal]

30. kicked, recommended and forwarded to my entire email list.

Sam Seder is talking about this right now!! on AAR Majority Report

[rodeodance]

31. any discussion of this on the talk shows?

[marmar]

32. The chickens are roosting...

The current climate must have emboldened some of those people who have been afraid to speak up until now. Somebody's leaking like a rusty bucket of late.

[rodeodance]

34. Wasse has been doing good work.

[wookie294]

35. Time for Cheney to give another "I am not a crook" speech n/t

[Catch22Dem]

36. But "the dems looked at the same intelligence"

Isn't that what they keep saying?

[renate]

37. Keith's talking about it now!!

Oh, how I love him!:loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

[rodeodance]

38. yes, he gave good overview of it.

[rodeodance]

39. saying Sen. Intel Com. requested this PBD but WH has refused.

[rodeodance]

40. KO saying R.Clarke said the same thing-and O'Neil

[rodeodance]

41. Fineman saying that Repugs are getting tired of defending the Pres.

[rodeodance]

42. Fineman saying that this Iraqi debate is NOT going to go away.

[rodeodance]

43. back to Jean Smitht again--saying DeLay materialized out of nowhere

right after she said it and all repugs said she had to apologize.

[Roland99]

58. Well, let them put his ass to the wall! Bush the GOP!

DAMN!

When will they wake the f*** up?!?!

[Roland99]

57. John O'Neill. R.I.P.

:(


Or was that Paul O'Neill?

[renate]

45. you rock, rodeodance

Thanks for the synopsis!
:yourock:

[Wordie]

52. There's an article about it on the MSNBC website - here's the link:

Hooray for Keith Olberman!!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10164478 /
<snip>
Report: 9/11-Iraq link refuted days after attack
Magazine says administration refused to give key docs to Senate committee

MSNBC
Updated: 7:09 p.m. ET Nov. 22, 2005

Ten days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, President Bush was advised that U.S. intelligence found no credible connection linking the attacks to the regime of Saddam Hussein, or evidence suggesting linkage between Saddam and the al-Qaida terrorist network, according to a published report.

The report, published Tuesday in The National Journal, cites government records, as well as present and former officials with knowledge of the issue. The information in the story, written by National Journal contributor Murray Waas, points to an abiding administration concern for secrecy that extended to keeping information from the Senate committee charged with investigating the matter.

In one of the Journal report's more compelling disclosures, Saddam is said to have viewed al-Qaida as a threat, rather than a potential ally.

“Indeed,” the Journal story reported, citing congressional sources, “the existence of the September 21 PDB was not disclosed to the Intelligence Committee until the summer of 2004.”

[Maggie_May]

44. Bush is so busted

this is it guys. We just need to keep up the pressure to finish phase 2 of the investigation into the intelligence.

[lonestarnot]

46. And once again, there you have it! That freak! IMPEACH HIM!

[ClintonTyree]

47. Bush never read PDBs anyway, we all know that from 9/11......

he'd have someone give him a synopsis of the information. Of course if that "someone" didn't mention those facts bush would never be intellectually curious enough to find out himself.

Of course Bush knew this all along anyway. He's had his Oedipal hard-on for Saddam since the first Gulf War. He was going to have Saddam's ass on a plate come hell or high water. This moron has never let facts get in the way of anything he's wanted to do. And just like everything else in his life, he's fucked it up beyond all recognition.

After 2008, when you look in Webster's American Dictionary under the word "loser", there will be a picture of George W. Bush.
Other words with his picture will be, "asshole", "liar", "failure" and "idiot".

[Maestro]

48. Goodness gracious!

What does it take for people to realize that this guy and his cronies, PNAC, fundies are all criminals hell-bent on destroying the US just for their own ego-driven agendas? Is this now impeacheable? What is it going to take?

[dennisnyc]

49. Waas interview on the Majority Report

www.majorityreportradio.com

[Wordie]

53. K&R...ANOTHER nail in the coffin. eom

[funnymanpants]

55. Story obviously wrong

This story is obviously part of the liberal elite propaganda machine. It is more than 2 years after the war. We know what Bush told us before the war, that there were links between Iraq and Al Quaida. After he attacked, he certainly expected document after document to come out proving those links, thus leaving egg on the face of the anti war wrong.

Now the opposite has happened. Not only have no WMDs been found, but now, just when the good news should be coming out--the documents proving the links--the opposite is happening, proving there were no links.

So this obviously has to be wrong and part of the liberal media.

[Postman]

61. The Bush administration has refused to turn over these documents.

To the Senate Intelligence Committee..

It's obvious the thieving sick-ass criminal republicans have lied like the dickins about this war.

May they burn in hell for destroying soo many families.

[obxhead]

62. I thought M. Moore broke this story (to a degree) in F. 9/11. nt

[Patsy Stone]

64. Although this comes as no real shock to us here,

The content of the document, if it's ever released, may indeed provide a legally binding, impeachable smoking gun.

This article gives a great overview of the whole nasty situation and the ususal suspects, and it's perfect for passing along to explain the whole convoluted thing to family and friends who don't sit on DU all day.

Rec!

[Rose Siding]

65. Somebody with juice is leaking :)

Not even the Senate Intel committee has been able to get this.

snip>
Indeed, the existence of the September 21 PDB was not disclosed to the Intelligence Committee until the summer of 2004, according to congressional sources. Both Republicans and Democrats requested then that it be turned over. The administration has refused to provide it, even on a classified basis, and won't say anything more about it other than to acknowledge that it exists.

[Wordie]

66. Report: 9/11-Iraq link refuted days after attack (more proof Bush LIED)

Keith Olberman just ran a segment on this story...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10164478/
<snip>
Report: 9/11-Iraq link refuted days after attack
Magazine says administration refused to give key docs to Senate committee

MSNBC
Updated: 7:09 p.m. ET Nov. 22, 2005

Ten days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, President Bush was advised that U.S. intelligence found no credible connection linking the attacks to the regime of Saddam Hussein, or evidence suggesting linkage between Saddam and the al-Qaida terrorist network, according to a published report.

The report, published Tuesday in The National Journal, cites government records, as well as present and former officials with knowledge of the issue. The information in the story, written by National Journal contributor Murray Waas, points to an abiding administration concern for secrecy that extended to keeping information from the Senate committee charged with investigating the matter.

In one of the Journal report's more compelling disclosures, Saddam is said to have viewed al-Qaida as a threat, rather than a potential ally.

“Indeed,” the Journal story reported, citing congressional sources, “the existence of the September 21 PDB was not disclosed to the Intelligence Committee until the summer of 2004.”

[xultar]

67. Well yes, Saddam was a secular Muslum. Osama doesn't want

Uncle Saddy in his business.

[Wordie]

68. Saddam and Osama just weren't interested in the same things.

Osama wants to establish a huge theocracy in the ME, with sharia law. The LAST thing Saddam wanted was to encourage Islamic fundamentalism, which would have been a threat to his power. So, why on earth would anyone suppose they would become allies?

Even I, with my relatively limited knowledge of the ME could figure that out. Why couldn't the Bush admin??? Jeez.

I'm happy this is all coming to light now, though. This is a potentially really BIG story. If it is accurate, Bush looks even MORE incompetent.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

69. Oil got in their eyes..... sorta clouded their vision.

[lumpy]

71. Now if the ostriches would just see

the light. Bush & Buddies should be made to fess' up to using this lie without refuting it instead of using it as one of their prime pieces of propaganda.

[Wordie]

70. This thread should be locked; it is a dupe. Here is link to earlier thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1942993&mesg_id=1942993

My apologies to the mods.

[flyarm]

76. NO IT SHOULDN'T ..MANY DIDN'T AND WON'T SEE THE OTHER

thread ..this thread has many posters and needs to stay open!

thanks mods, and please keep this thread open...
fly

[Wordie]

77. My apologies. I was referring to my own thread that has now been

incorporated into this one. This thread surely SHOULD remain open. Sorry for the confusion.

[melissinha]

78. 11/21/01 PDB +PNAC= Conspiracy to carry out unjustified war

Now this is the final piece we have the means in which the WHIG with their years of planning of the PNAC which allowed them to carry out their evil plan.

[DaveColorado]

81. CHIMPEACH!!!

We've got those bastards now.

[mzmolly]

82. Gee more proof that the intelligence was NOT bad.

Huh, imagine that.

[wordpix2]

84. bushco again thwarts an investigating comm like it did w/ 9-11 commission

These criminals should be brought up on obstruction of justice charges.


"The Senate Intelligence Committee has asked the White House for the CIA assessment, the PDB of September 21, 2001, and dozens of other PDBs as part of the committee's ongoing investigation into whether the Bush administration misrepresented intelligence information in the run-up to war with Iraq. The Bush administration has refused to turn over these documents."