WP: Warning in Iraq Report Unread

[kskiska]

Bush, Rice Did Not See State's Objection

By Dana Milbank and Dana Priest
Saturday, July 19, 2003; Page A01

President Bush and his national security adviser did not entirely read the most authoritative prewar assessment of U.S. intelligence on Iraq, including a State Department claim that an allegation Bush would later use in his State of the Union address was "highly dubious," White House officials said yesterday.

The acknowledgment came in a briefing for reporters in which the administration released excerpts from last October's National Intelligence Estimate, a classified, 90-page summary that was the definitive assessment of Iraq's weapons programs by U.S. intelligence agencies. The report declared that "most" of the six intelligence agencies believed there was "compelling evidence that Saddam is reconstituting a uranium enrichment effort for Baghdad's nuclear weapons program." But the document also included a pointed dissent by the State Department, which said the evidence did not "add up to a compelling case" that Iraq was making a comprehensive effort to get nuclear weapons.

The unusual decision to declassify a major intelligence report was a bid by the White House to quiet a growing controversy over Bush's allegations about Iraq's weapons programs. The chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is seeking to question White House aides after hearing from CIA officials who said that Bush aides pushed to include contested allegations about Iraq's nuclear ambitions in Bush's speech. The CIA account was contradicted during yesterday's White House briefing.

(snip)

The official said Bush was "briefed" on the NIE's contents, but "I don't think he sat down over a long weekend and read every word of it." Asked whether Bush was aware the State Department called the Africa-uranium claim "highly dubious," the official, who coordinated Bush's State of the Union address, said: "He did not know that."

"The president was comfortable at the time, based on the information that was provided in his speech," the official said of the decision to use it in the address to Congress. "The president of the United States is not a fact-checker."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13744-2003Jul18.html?nav=hptop_tb

[Cha]

1. "The president of the United States is not a fact-checker."

That's putting it mildly!

Sociopaths don't need no "stinking facts" facts! }(

[radfringe]

26. .....not a fact checker

however he is a fact distorter

[karlschneider]

48. But, but...his own Whitehouse website shows him going over it "word by

word, line by line"!!!!!!!

If we could hook these people up to a generator, we could give Baghdad back their electricity!
:wtf:

[TankLV]

59. I want to hear next time about a "CEO" president.

From now on, we need a "hands on" president, like Carter and Clinton.

No more bafoons, please, amerikan sheeple!

[Rose Siding]

2. AARRGHHHA! NOT a fact checker?

Oh man, will THIS take him down? He didn't READ it? Could no one read it TO him?

Dereliction Of Duty. He Screwed Us.

[Maple]

3. "The president of the United States is not a fact-checker."

Yes, because 'facts' are so unimportant in his job!

[DagmarK]

4. We didn't read the whole thing.......

WTF???????????

I am incredulous!

[Rose Siding]

9. Neither did Rice!

So State said it was no good- the CIA too, right? Who were the majority of the 6- the new group in the DoD and NSA- those 2 are neo-con politicos- who are the other 2?

[indictrichardperle]

11. Hadley, Rice's deputy

was told directly, the Uranium documents were Bogus.....

Its also repeatedly been said NSA has primary over-sight of what is approved for SOTU. She is a lying sack of shit.

[ozymandius]

37. This assumes too much.

It assumes that Bush can read on the level at which the report was written, if at all.

[Ilsa]

5. well,

"President Bush and his national security adviser did not entirely read the most authoritative prewar assessment ..."

I didn't know he could read.

[JohnyCanuck]

6. The president of the United States is not a fact-checker.

Doesn't he at least have flunkies to do that? but then I guess they are just paid to find only facts that back up Chimpy's preconceived notions of the way things ought to be. Heaven forbid they should tell Chimpy the earth revolves around the sun while he knows damn well it's the sun that revolves around the earth.

[calimary]

62. Good Lord! Well, DOESN'T he have flunkies to do it for him? YEAH.

A Stanford grad/PhD named Condoleezza Rice - who purportedly CAN read - is one of them, is she not?

Stanford U should sue her for defamation of character.

[Emboldened Chimp]

7. But he read his SOTU line by line

:eyes:

[Nambe]

8. Another 'the dog ate my school bus' lie.

Intelegence reports are interpreted word by word by people in the WH. We pay them a lot of money to do it. What a crock.

[gulliver]

10. Come on, people!

He was only accusing another country of building nuclear weapons ... in the State of the Union ... in order to push for a war. You can't expect him to check his facts. Please.

Or maybe he did check his facts and they'd rather we didn't know that.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

12. Why read the report?

if you've already decided which lie to tell?

[bigtime]

13. what could he have been doing more important than reading it?

let's see, working out, taking nap, golfing, knocking off work at 5 sharp, hitting the sack by 9, taking 5 day weekends and a month off every year. Yeah, see, he just didn't have time to get himself fully informed, too busy. Plus those old reports are so durn boring.

A 90 page report would take him "a long weekend" to read? How slow could he possibly read?

If saying "he never read it" is their idea of "plausible deniability", then I'm sorry, it is implausible. There were lives at stake, and the credibility of the country, and his own credibility too. And he just didn't take the time to read it? A report on the topic he was so obsessed with. On his desk. And he just didn't get around to reading it. I can not believe that could be true. There is no way he could be that careless and sloppy and cavalier. Is there?

[Melsky]

20. This is what happens when you coast through life

on your family prestige and end up as president. Anyone who can't read a 90 page report is not fit to be president.

[sandnsea]

14. Rogue nations may or may not have nuclear weapons

Bush doesn't know because he doesn't read the reports or check the facts. I feel so safe and cozy tonight, don't you?

[grasswire]

16. he sat with a number 2 pencil and edited...

....the freaking speech.

what a phony confabulation.

No shame. They have no shame.

[snippy]

30. Excellent comment.

"Bush doesn't know because he doesn't read the reports or check the facts." This explains everything about the Bush presidency.

Enter into criminal conspiracy to market unprovoked invasion of sovereign nation?
"Bush doesn't know because he doesn't read the reports or check the facts."

Slaughter thousands of innocent Iraqis?
"Bush doesn't know because he doesn't read the reports or check the facts."

During carrier costume party declare mission accomplished?
"Bush doesn't know because he doesn't read the reports or check the facts."

Taunt Iraqis to attack and kill American soldiers?
"Bush doesn't know because he doesn't read the reports or check the facts."

Destroy the environment?
"Bush doesn't know because he doesn't read the reports or check the facts."

Loot the treasury?
"Bush doesn't know because he doesn't read the reports or check the facts."

Screw working class Americans?
"Bush doesn't know because he doesn't read the reports or check the facts."

Ignore explicit warnings of 9/11 attacks?
"Bush doesn't know because he doesn't read the reports or check the facts."

It probably would not help if Bush did try to read any reports.

[Tracer]

51. I Never Noticed This Before!!!

The Idiot is sitting there with the book upside down!!

Maybe the intelligence report was "upside down" also, and he couldn't figure out how to read it backwards.

[jpgray]

65. It's photoshopped

Notice the red bar is on the top of the spine on both books.

[gulliver]

15. Sure they didn't see it.

They had the report. The "highly dubious" Africa-uranium claim was the juicy part for them. Don't tell me they didn't read it.

Bush is one of those salesmen who will say anything. I simply don't believe he didn't know that what he was saying was highly dubious. I think he knew and said it anyway, and he said it in the State of the Union.

[grasswire]

17. who would this be?

"the official, who coordinated Bush's State of the Union address, said: "He did not know that."


Who would this be?

[janx]

41. Good point. We STILL don't know who was pushing hard

to put that sentence in the speech. The question is raised over and over, and no one will answer.

[PaDUer]

54. Karen Hughes...

what's her roll in this? Remember how fast she took off, then came back every now/then...

[snippy]

58. Who was "the official, who coordinated Bush's State of the Union ?"

Good question. I think that it would have been Turd Blossom Rove. The SOTU speech is too important politically for him not to be in charge. That may be the reason the White House keeps shitting all over itself trying to explain the lie. It would not look good to have the political Svengali deciding on the reasons for war.

I think the critical questions are:

Who decided to use a campaign of lies to market the invasion?

When was that decision made?

That decision was made months before the SOTU was written. Bush made his -"Fuck Saddam. We're taking him out." - statement in March, 2002. The campaign to market the invasion began that fall.

[farmboxer]

18. Bush Can't Read!

Bush can barely read on a fourth grade level! The report was way over his head!

[treefrogjohn]

19. We went to war on Cliff Notes

Dumbed down for Dumbya. I want a President who can read and who wants to be personally cognizant of all the facts before sending troops to die.

[Obsolete]

27. Love your header, treefrogjohn

If I may so humbly modify it, my new slogan would be:

We went to war because we have a Cliff Notes President!!!!

:7 :bounce:

[loyalsister]

21. This is for public consumption

Seriously guys PLEASE STOP CALLING HIM DUMB! He may be lazy, but we cannot allow him to get by with being "too dumb to have known better than to have read the whole thing" in the public's mind.
Unless there is a sudden outcry for competence in the WH, this dumb card is going to be what they pull out every time he gets busted saying\doing something irresponsible or vindictive. For example this pentagon stifling thing. People will write this off as "dumb" because it will cost him voters, rather than see the horrendous lack of empathy in his disregard for the stress endured by men who are there by his order and for whose lives he is responsible.
People need to know he is a horrible man who says things like "I hit the trifecta," "That's one terrible pilot," "Bring 'em on" and has no respect for the voicings of our troops because he has no sense of what it is like to be in anyone's situation but his own. What they especially need to know is that he doesn't care. Just like he doesn't care what HIS (he is the "commander in chief" such as it can be defined in this presidency) troops think.

[sandnsea]

23. Yep, a sociopath

While I do think he's dumb, I also think it let's him get away with completely ridiculous things. A President who doesn't know a rogue nation is seeking nuclear weapons???? Forget the stupid speech, the man ought to KNOW that. I mean he was briefed because he doesn't like to get into the details of things, like checking the facts himself. I wrote a letter to Congress several months ago and spent 2 weeks going through reports to make sure my facts were right, and this guy can't even do it when he's going to war??? Unreal.

[Fleshdancer]

22. Stop blaming Bush!

It's not his fault there were no pictures. I mean honestly, 90 whole pages and not even one single illistration? No pop-ups? If the State Dept. was serious about their dissent, then they should have put it on audio tape. Damn fools over there at the State Department.

[leesa]

45. Now Gloria, I can't imagine this administration would come up with

a report that didn't have at least one drawing of the mobile falafel stands, I mean, portable WMDs.

[Journeyman]

24. "Facts, sir, are the enemy of truth!"

-- Don Quixote de la Mancha

[Oilwellian]

25. Oh come on good people!

What's so great about lil ole' facts when it comes to nuclear threat assessments? :eyes:

[Cooley Hurd]

28. This is as lame as Reagan's "I can't recall" excuse in Iran-Contra...

Then again... same people in charge, so why would we expect anything else?

[LizW]

31. It worked before

Reagan's "I can't recall" worked, so why wouldn't they try again? As you say, it's the same bunch orchestrating this presidency, so why wouldn't they go back to the tried and true? Of course, there is the problem that they roasted Clinton for trying to claim he didn't hear and remember every word spoken in his presence. They raised the bar for accountability for what a president should know and recall, which makes it a little hard now to go back to the "Duh, I didn't know" defense.

[SharonAnn]

56. And as good as Bush I's "I wasn't in the loop"

so why wouldn't it work for junior?

[Star]

60. Why wouldn't it work for Junior?

Because in this case, at this time, with this situation, American men and women have died and continue to die. No getting away from that.

[Corgigal]

29. 9-11

If I remember correctly, this is the same lame excuse he used about his intelligence reports that he was suppose to read during the summer months of 2000.

Man can't read and people die.

[trumad]

34. Come on it's a lie

They read it ...They read every God Damn word of it.... They just didn't like what some of it said and only chose words they did like... This is bullshit!

[leesa]

46. I know. Isn't it amazing that this is their EXCUSE for the presence of

lies in the speech!! What's even worse is that the Republican sheeple will accept it!

[FubarFly]

50. Who cares what the sheeple think?

The party "faithful" will never be swayed. It's the moderate Republicans and the Independent voters which will be curious about this. The White House's approach will not satisfy them. The president had a chance to take responsibity for for his own words. He could have done it in a way
which would have boosted his support. But the president is a raging psychopath who will never apologize for anything. Or perhaps he is a spoiled brat rich kid. Or maybe he is an incompetent boob who is in over his head. Or maybe he a testosterone poisoned egomaniac. Or maybe he's a delusional fool who can't see reality. Every lie and excuse they give, reinforces a negative image of shrub. shrub is no longer telling people what they want to hear, so they are filling in the blanks for themselves.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

32. IMPEACH THE INCOMPETENT SLACKER.....PEOPLE DIED BECAUSE HE IS A SLACKER

WTF????????

[rhite5]

33. Let's not kid ourselves...

Bush knew the facts and he LIED. That's it, pure and simple.

Why read the report? Not reading it says nothing about his intelligence.

He does not CARE. No empathy. Unable to empathize.

He has an agenda to follow.

[ward919]

35. INEXCUSIBLE!!!

This is further proof that this administration is so arrogant that they don't even want to consider opposing views -- even from their own members. Condi must go behind these revelations. If Tenent must take a hit for something he didn't do, Condi must take the hit for her incompetence.

There has never been an administration more damaging to our democracy and national interests, national image than this one!

[PaDUer]

55. ALways remember

how fast Condi went running out of that meeting...

[LizW]

36. To borrow a theme from Mike McArdle's piece today

The question we should be asking is "Are you or are you not the President of the United States? Five Supreme Court justices told us you were. If you are not, we demand to know who the hell is!"

[robbedvoter]

38. Just like the Aug 6 2001 memo "briefing" - slipped his mind!

"The official said Bush was "briefed" on the NIE's contents, but "I don't think he sat down over a
long weekend and read every word of it." Asked whether Bush was aware the State Department
called the Africa-uranium claim "highly dubious," the official, who coordinated Bush's State of the
Union address, said: "He did not know that."

I mean why would he read it over the weekend? There was a Segway to attempt to get on, a pretzel to wrestle, brush to be cleared. And then the pretty pictures of the "revising" of the speech - was that the actual speech there or the script for Austin Powers?
In Polk's times, this was not yet legislated as a crime, still Congress

"after taking the president to task, the House of Representatives
passed a resolution
stating that the war with Mexico had been "unnecessary and
unconstitutionally
commenced by the President." (John Dean)
In the meanwhile, it became a crime, but we don't have a democracy anymore.

[Gin]

39. he practices the speech in front of people...Karen Hughes is one..

so they all knew the wording...all knew the lies..they are not dumb...they think WE are dumb.

[janx]

40. Consider this:

If the administration allowed this report to be declassified (thinking it was harmless), what other information is there?

Their arrogance will cause them to self-destruct.

[Drifter]

42. This is just more proof ...

That the decision to invade Iraq for their Oil, was made long before 9/11, and for a much different reason (can you say Energy Papers).

tha dam is crunbling. I suggest heading for higher ground.

Cheers
Drifter

[Maeve]

43. We don't need no stinkin' FACTS!!!

We also don't need any outside enenmy. One day soon, there will be a massive implosion of American heads, sucked dry of all brain matter.

[Fovea]

44. They should dust that report for prints

and fire every white house staffer who touched it!
That sort of fecklessness rises to a misdemeanor.
In fact, if someone sent you a message saying your car was about to roll downhill into a crowded building, and you let it happen, the defence that you did not read it *carefully enough* would not keep you out of jail.

[snippy]

53. They dusted Hillary Clinton's billing records for prints.

We need a special prosecutor. John Dean is the only public person I am aware of who has called for one. From Dean's column:

What I found, in critically examining Bush's evidence, is not pretty. The African uranium matter is merely indicative of larger problems, and troubling questions of potential and widespread criminality when taking the nation to war. It appears that not only the Niger uranium hoax, but most everything else that Bush said about Saddam Hussein's weapons was false, fabricated, exaggerated, or phony.

. . .

So egregious and serious are Bush's misrepresentations that they appear to be a deliberate effort to mislead Congress and the public. So arrogant and secretive is the Bush White House that only a special prosecutor can effectively answer and address these troubling matters. Since the Independent Counsel statute has expired, the burden is on President Bush to appoint a special prosecutor - and if he fails to do so, he should be held accountable by Congress and the public.

. . .

There is an unsavory stench about Bush's claims to the Congress, and nation, about Saddam Hussein's WMD threat. The deceptions are too apparent. There are simply too many unanswered questions, which have been growing daily. If the Independent Counsel law were still in existence, this situation would justify the appointment of an Independent Counsel.

Because that law has expired, if President Bush truly has nothing to hide, he should appoint a special prosecutor. After all, Presidents Nixon and Clinton, when not subject to the Independent Counsel law, appointed special prosecutors to investigate matters much less serious. If President Bush is truly the square shooter he portrays himself to be, he should appoint a special prosecutor to undertake an investigation.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030718.html

[Sophree]

57. Everyone, please read this John Dean article

It's a must read and lays out a clear case for a special prosecutor. He goes through the lies/half-truths/misrepresentations in the SOTU one by one.

[Curtis]

47. What a way to wake up

This was the first story I read on http://www.msnbc.com/news/937524.asp?vts=071920030805 Now I'm mad enough to go break something. Where's my hammer . . .

[trapper914]

49. Just another example...

...of how this administration ignores any argument which goes against their agenda. We've seen it time and time again with environmental reports, Iraqi scientists, and intelligence.

Now they tell us, they don't even bother to read the counter-viewpoint intelligence. This is the best excuse they can offer?

[Curtis]

52. Anyone know where to get

the documents that were released? It'd be interesting to read them first hand.

[are_we_united_yet]

61. Did he just look at the pictures?

[RetroLounge]

63. That explains why he's never read the Constitution

There's no pictures...

Farking moron dumbass...

[Gingersnap]

64. ok, even if we imagine he doesn't "check facts" doesn't he have a

bunch of advisors who heard the speech (wrote it?)? You'd think they would "check the facts" on every assertion made there. Duh! Is the entire conservative base operating on the level of Rush Limbaugh when it comes to facts?

This excuse is just a lame attempt to move the blame away from Chimpy, they can't honestly think it will stop the questions about the lies, can they?