Rice: CIA didn't tell Bush the info was false

[doxieone]

If CIA Director George Tenet had any misgivings about that sentence in the president's speech, "he did not make them known" to Bush or his staff, said national security adviser Condoleezza Rice

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030711/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq_49

[Best_man23]

1. To paraphrase a quote from a movie

The BS from this administration is piling up so fast you needs wings just to stay above it.

[clarkbarr]

65. Shut Up Rice!

Belafonte was right.

[salmonhorse]

2. Look, here's the deal ~

Every head in Washington DC will be rolling, every rotting body twisting in the still, motionless summer aire before any member; any member of the Bush family oligarchy ever admits to doing a damn thing wrong EVER!

That is their M.O. and it has been such for quite some time now. What we are all witnessing now is 'the tap dance' back and away.

Just show up for Election ~ 2004 and The White House will no longer be theirs...

[Uroboros]

3. Just more B.S.

from the person who claimed that terrorist crashing planes into building was something they hadn't considered in their wildest dreams before 9/11

I hope there is a special place in HELL for her and the rest of the demon spawn in this administration.

[susu369]

10. That special place in HELL

will be deep "in the bowels of Hades"

:-)

[chromotone]

31. Good one!

Charon may not even let them on his boat...

[Native]

18. Here's hoping their hell will begin on Earth!

n/t

[0007]

36. Namaste

All good yogis know that there isn't a hell. But we do believe in karma.

[MissMarple]

64. Bingo! Karma can be a bitch.

I apologize for the ,uh...coarse language, if anyone should be offended.

[BOSSHOG]

4. WHO'S THE BOSS OF THIS ADMINISTRATION?

IF A NAVAL VESSEL IS HAZARDED, INVESTIGATORS DON'T GO AFTER THE NAVIGATOR OR THE ENGINEER OR THE HELMSMAN, THEY SEEK OUT THE COMMANDING OFFICER, THE ONE IN CHARGE, THE BOSS. IF BUSH WASN'T TOLD THE CORRECT INFO IT IS BECAUSE HE LACKS LEADERSHIP SKILLS OR HIS PEOPLE DON'T TRUST HIM WITH THE TRUTH. REGARDLESS OF THE REASON, HE LIED AND PRESIDENTS WHO LIE SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE (ACCORDING TO RIGHT WING CHRISTIAN CONSERVATIVE MORAL ABSOLUTIST STANDARDS).

[Zero Gravitas]

13. The Buck Doesn't Stop with Bush*

Operation Find A Scape Goat is now underway. Well I never expected a poncey aristocrat like Bush* to bring personal responsibility to the White House, but where is the Honor and Dignity he promised? we haven't seen either of those yet in this White House.

[aquart]

59. Aristocrat? Bush????? Have you heard his mother?

That woman's class is situated somewhere beneath a stable. Compost heap maybe.

I'm a New Yorker, honey. When that inflated hausfrau called the first woman vice presidential candidate on a major ticket a "bitch," I knew that class was what she flunked out of in kindergarten.

When her husband was elected President and articles started appearing about the "patrician" Barbara Bush, I almost swallowed my tongue.

She has nothing in common with any aristocracy since the dark ages. I could see her bonding with Ma Barker, though.

[noonwitch]

5. Since they can't blame Clinton for 2002 intelligence

They've got to blame somebody other than Bush/Cheney! If not the CIA, then the british. I'll bet they're bumming that there's no way to blame it on the french!

[FubarFly]

6. Yes ,but after the IEAA said the Niger info was phoney...

The whitehouse came out immediately with a full retraction,
and apologized for misleading the nation.

They didn't wait until AFTER the war.

They didn't wait until they were caught.

They didn't continue to make allegations about Iraq's nuclear weapons threat right up until they got caught.

What? They did?

Oh.

Impeach the bastard now!

[papau]

7. Condi's new lie - that telling the Brits the lie, and saying the Brits

believe these "facts", and have voiced that belief, is not a "lie".

Seems the CIA said that Bush saying that Iraq was chasing Atomic fuel would be a lie, but sweet Condi convinced the CIA that Bush saying that the Brits believed and had evidence that Iraq was chasing Atomic fuel was not a lie - even though all the above occurs in the same conversation in the same room.

So knowing the evidence the Brits had was fake because it was the evidence that we gave them, and knowing the statement by the Brits was wrong because it was the statement we asked them to make, and knowing that the only additional "evidence" the Brits had was their summary of the evidence that we gave them - as now testified to by all - Condi convinced the CIA that saying the Brits say "Atomic fuel to Iraq" is not a lie.

And the US Press - at least some of it - actually question the idea that the Bush folks are truth tellers and straight shooters!!!

Amazing.

[doxieone]

8. CNN just showed film clip of George (Bush) saying..

"speech was cleared by the intelliegence services."

Pathetic.

[codeword]

39. This is exactly right.

Bush has a kind of "deniability," because all he did was to cite a story the CIA told him was false to British intelligence.

I regard this sort of sneaky sophistry as worse than lying.

[joeunderdog]

45. The case for credibility...relying on "hearsay" to go to war. Nice.

Even if it is true (and I doubt it), do they really think that quoting an unverified claim raises their case above the level of unforgivingly irresponsible?

My questions in response to this latest spin are:
At what point did you officially acknowledge the forgery?
How did this materially effect your war plans?
Why was there no expression of outrage that the high standards of the Administration and America in general were not met?
Why was there no public retraction?
Did you launch an investigation about your Intelligence (or did you just embrace your Stupidity)?

According to the article,
"Other U.S. officials said Thursday that before and after Bush claimed in January that Iraq was seeking uranium in Africa, American intelligence officials expressed doubts about a British intelligence report that Bush cited to back up his allegation."

<snip>

"CBS, ABC and CNN reported Thursday that CIA officials who saw a draft of Bush's speech even questioned whether his statement was too strong given the quality of the British intelligence. But the remark was left in, provided it was attributed to the British."

Sure, tell everyone that our source on the shoe shine stand said they meant business. Who is supposed to be fooled by this anyway?

[hang a left]

9. Oh really now

I thought for one happy day that Cheney was gonna be the fall guy. Now it looks like they are trying to set up Tenet, with all the faith and trust they have in him. Let's see what the rest of the world has to say when everyone wakes up, has their coffee, and asks "what the f*** is this, we aren't going down for them." Today should be interesting.

[psychopomp]

11. Absolutely; spooks vs. bushco??

I almost feel sorry for Mr. Tenet...no, I don't actually.

2 scorpions in a bottle.

[Punkingal]

12. Condi.....

makes me :puke: Are they just going to continue to lie? When are some heads going to roll, here? I think hers should be one of the first.

[hang a left]

14. All of this confusion

just makes it more apparent that a full and open investigation into the intelligence failures (distortion, lies, revisions) commence so that the "American People" who don't care about wmds, and are only interested in the liberation of the Iraqi people, know where the flaws were.

[doxieone]

15. AFP now has a story out quoting Bush from TODAY.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030711/wl_mideast_afp/us_iraq_weapons_africa_030711124249


"I gave a speech to the nation that was cleared by intelligence services. It was a speech that detailed to the American people the dangers posed by the Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) regime," Bush said.


"My government took the appropriate response to the dangers, and as a result the world is more secure and more peaceful."

[underpants]

16. ABC WNT- phone call confirmation only the night before SoTU

Last night ABC reported that only a phone call confirmation was made with the CIA and only the night before W went out and knowingly LIED.

WMD-Lie
Niger-Lie
Imminent threat-Lie
Links to terrorism/9-11-Lie

[codeword]

40. What the CIA cleared was....

Bush's attribution of the false uranium story to British intelligence. "Just don't attribute it to us," they said, "because we don't think it's true."

So did Bush lie? Not exactly. This was sneaky deception with intent to mislead. A lie has a kind of dignity. This doesn't.

[kentuck]

17. Tenet can say...

that there are a couple of guys in the bowels of the CIA that monitor and oversee SOTU speeches by the pResident* and they made a mistake and let this slip by. He doesn't have to name names. Who's gonna question him ?

[Native]

22. Exactly!

It has already been reported that Tenet never personally saw the speech.

[DoYouEverWonder]

57. Do you have a link for that statement?

Thanks.


PBWY
DYEW

[nolabels]

54. It's all just so much bullshit

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/
(snip)
Wolfowitz Aimed to Undermine Blix So US Could Strike Iraq
by Jason Leopold
Dissident Voice
Posted: June 26, 2003


Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense, was so eager to see the United States launch a preemptive strike against Iraq in early 2002, that he ordered the CIA to investigate the past work of Hans Blix, the chief United Nations weapons inspector, who, in February 2002, was asked to lead a team of U.N. weapons inspectors into Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction.


The unusual move by Wolfowitz underscores the steps the Bush administration was willing to take a year before the U.S. invaded Iraq to manipulate and/or exaggerate intelligence information to support its claims that Iraq posed an immediate threat to the United States and that the only solution to quell the problem was the use of military force.


U.S. military forces in Iraq have yet to find any evidence of WMD. Some U.S. lawmakers have accused the Bush administration of distorting intelligence information, which claimed Iraq possessed tons of chemical and biological agents, to justify the attack to overthrow Iraq's President Saddam Hussein. Although the Bush administration continues to deny the accusations, evidence, such as the secret report Wolfowitz asked the CIA in January 2002 to produce on Blix, prove that the administration had already decided that removing Saddam from power would require military force and it would do so regardless of the position of the U.N.

(snip)

[Stuckinthebush]

19. This is a desperation move

They know this is all they have now - and it is a dangerous game.

You don't scapegoat the CIA/NSA without reaping some major political damage. Do you think the CIA career employees will take this crap from the administration, especially after they were probably hounded to come up with something, anything to show that Iraq was a serious threat to the US?

No, you don't take on the intelligence agencies without it being your last move.

Things are about to get interesting, folks.

[rocktivity]

20. Poor innocent widdle Georgie...

Everybody lied to him. Everybody lied EXCEPT him...



"WAHHH!!! They ganged up on me behind my back to make me look bad! I'm telling my daddy on them! WAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

rocknation

[underpants]

24. Honor....dignity....................personal responsibility

That little twerp has taken responsibility for anything his entire life.

[playahata1]

38. Yo, Undie!

You mean: "That little twerp has NEVER taken responsibility for anything his entire life."

Buy you a beer. Peace.

[priller]

21. Condi must have been taking lessons from Ari

Look at what she's saying: TENET did not tell them the info was bogus.

However, that's not saying that other officials from the CIA didn't tell them. In fact, from the CBS story:

“I didn’t use the uranium at that point because I didn’t think that was sufficiently strong as evidence to present before the world,” Powell said.

That is exactly what CIA officials told the White House before the State of the Union. The top CIA official, Director George Tenet, was not involved in those discussions and apparently never warned the President he was on thin ice.

Just because Tenet himself didn't warn, doesn't mean they didn't get the warning. They knew it was bogus, all right.

[The_Counsel]

23. Gotta Admire The Little Lady's Tenacity...

...to argue a lost cause the way she does.

This isn't the first time the good "doctor" has gone before the public and INSISTED something was true after it had already been refuted.

...and some Californians want THIS for their governor? Has Grey Davis screwed up so badly that they'd take ANYONE else for governor? God help 'em...

Condi Rice will say any and everything this (mis)administration tells her to because she wants to keep her job. It's that simple. That isn't leadership, that's prostitution.

[Jack Rabbit]

25. BBC Link

From the BBC Online
Dated Friday July 11 11:51 GMT (4:51 am PDT)

CIA 'cleared' Iraq uranium claim

The CIA approved in advance US President George W Bush's accusation that Iraq had sought to acquire nuclear material from Africa, a senior Bush aide has said.
"The CIA cleared the speech in its entirety," the president's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told reporters on Air Force One, en route from South Africa to Uganda . . . .
If anyone had any doubts about the uranium claim, "those doubts were not communicated to the president," Ms Rice told reporters.
However she said the Central Intelligence Agency did make some changes to that particular sentence in the speech.
"Some specifics about amount and place were taken out," she said.

Read more

[Tracer]

26. Oh folks, just "believe" Colin...

... you all are getting "overwrought" and you all are "overblowing" the situation!

Our DearLeader was just misinformed by somebody (but gee, we don't know who). Our DL would never, never, never tell a lie, 'cause he's such an honest guy.

[Jack Rabbit]

27. Serious question

Are we supposed to believe that the IAEA was able to determine that the Niger document was a forgery almost immediately while the CIA was not?

I have a problem with that.

(This question is also posted on the other thread).

[underpants]

30. It only took the IAEA 15 minutes

NO it is not reasonable to think the CIA couldn't find out just as quickly. In fact I read somewhere (on DU) a quote from a former CIA guy who when told of the evidence of W's claim said~"Oh that piece of crap?!?!?" meaning the Niger document not W himself.

[ozymandius]

51. Senator Rockefeller has launched an inquiry into this.

As soon as the IAEA dismissed the Niger documents as forgeries, Rockefeller launched an investigation into the source of these documents. Results: pending.

There is a thread about the second part of your question:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=6952&mesg_id=6952

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, perhaps I can provide a little bit of insight, Wolf.

We've learned from sources in the last day or so, that there were earlier drafts of the president's State of the Union message that were circulated, or this part of the draft, in which American intelligence was credited with having information about these attempts to buy uranium in Niger.

I understand from sources that U.S. intelligence officials went back to the administration and said, "No, we don't -- we don't think we can support that information, you probably shouldn't say that." And apparently, a decision was subsequently made to leave the assertion in the speech anyway, but attribute it to the British white paper, which of course had already publicly made the claim.

Now CIA officials are declining all comment on this, but I'm confident that the sources I've spoken to are speaking accurately about that matter.

One other piece of insight. The CIA did send a report widely through the White House, State Department, Pentagon and elsewhere in March of 2002 -- this was ten months before the State of the Union message -- in which it summarized the findings what we now know was former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who the CIA had asked to make a trip to Niger -- he was a former ambassador there -- and look into it.

And he reported back that this was just not credible in his view. It was dubious, that he'd talked to Nigerian officials, they denied it and in any case uranium mines in Niger were basically controlled by a French company and other foreign entities, so that this was probably a bogus story.

Now, the report did not go to high-level people in the White House, it was not flagged to them. It was never in the briefing the president was given. But it was there ten months in the White House 10 months before the speech was given.

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0307/10/lol.06.html

Now CIA officials are declining all comment on this, but I'm confident that the sources I've spoken to are speaking accurately about that matter.

My comment: What matters is that they have spoken on this issue. As long as the sources are verifiably CIA and in positions of knowing this information firsthand, then we can bank on its veracity.

One reason why they may refuse to speak publicly on this issue today is that an official investigation may be in the works and any public comment is forbidden under these circumstances. We'll just have to wait and see.

[fshrink]

28. Which logically implies that

the USA went to war because of a mis-communication. That's reassuring. The fact that this represents the best possible tactical move available at this time tells a lot about the severity of the situation in the liars' camp.

[robbedvoter]

29. CBS puts all the developments together (they broke the story):

Furor Over CIA Role In WMD Claim
WASHINGTON, July 11, 2003
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/25/iraq/main560449.shtml
I didn't know last night why they mentioned that Tenet didn't see the speech - in view of Condi's bleating, I'm glad they did.
Condi "traditional hijackings"Rice is trotted out when everyone else is in the bunker in depends.

[0007]

37. You got that right!!

They're all pissing in their pants. LOL!!

I love it!

[Frederic Bastiat]

32. Rice's statements mean nothing

Rice's statements mean nothing to anyone who has followed the story. The VP's office sent the agent to Niger to validate or refute the Niger claims, he reported back to Cheney's office that they were false.

They bypassed the CIA to try and get this evidence, and now they're trying to blame the CIA when they lie about it.

[nolabels]

44. Here is part of the story

I had a article and link on a little more together piece a couple days ago but have missplaced it. Its called the office of special plans,and is run out of the pentagon with just 4 people and bypasses the CIA


http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030707&s=dreyfuss
(snip)
More Missing Intelligence
by ROBERT DREYFUSS
the Pentagon scours Iraq for weapons of mass destruction and Iraqi links to Al Qaeda, it's increasingly obvious that the Bush Administration either distorted or deliberately exaggerated the intelligence used to justify the war against Iraq. But an even bigger intelligence scandal is waiting in the wings: the fact that members of the Administration failed to produce an intelligence evaluation of what Iraq might look like after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Instead, they ignored fears expressed by analysts at the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the State Department who predicted that postwar Iraq would be chaotic, violent and ungovernable, and that Iraqis would greet the occupying armies with firearms, not flowers.
Not surprisingly, perhaps, it turns out that the same people are responsible for both. According to current and former US intelligence analysts and government officials, the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans funneled information, unchallenged, from Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress (INC) to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, who in turn passed it on to the White House, suggesting that Iraqis would welcome the American invaders. The Office of Special Plans is led by Abram Shulsky, a hawkish neoconservative ideologue who got his start in politics working alongside Elliott Abrams in Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson's office in the 1970s. It was set up in fall 2001 as a two-man shop, but it burgeoned into an eighteen-member nerve center of the Pentagon's effort to distort intelligence about Iraq's WMDs and terrorist connections. A great deal of the bad information produced by Shulsky's office, which found its way into speeches by Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, came from Chalabi's INC. Since the INC itself was sustained by its neocon allies in Washington, including the shadow "Central Command" at the American Enterprise Institute, it stands as perhaps the ultimate example of circular reasoning.
(snip)

[Sweetpea]

33. It's all good

Because it makes him look like he doesn't have a credible administration. And we can't trust liars to take us to war.

[Jack Rabbit]

34. The hypothesis is not abdandoned

There is no reason to abandon the following hypothesis:

• The was colonial.
  • The purpose of the war was:
    • to take control of Iraq natural resources and place them in the hands of multinational corporations based in the US which paid the bills for Mr. Bush's political career;
    • To assure that the business of reconstructing the infrastruture of a post-Saddam Iraq would go to multinational corporations based in the US which paid the bills for Mr. Bush's political career;
    • To impose the neoliberal econonic paradigm on Iraq in order to open markets for multinational corporations based in the US which paid the bills for Mr. Bush's political career and with which native Iraqi businesses cannot compete.
  • The war had nothing to with fighting terrorism, disarming a rogue state of weapons of mass destruction, enforcing UN resolutions or liberating anyone from a brutal dictator.
• Everyone in the Bush junta knew very well they could not sell the war to the American people or to the world for the real reasons.
  • In order to sell the war, they alternately claimed the war to be about fighting terrorism, disarming a rogue state of weapons of mass destruction, enforcing UN resolutions and liberating the Iraqi people from a brutal dictator;
  • Since those weren't the real reasons for the war, but merely pretexts for public relations purposes, the veracity of facts used to support them were not as important as the impact they had on the public.

As this pertains to the Niger document, the hypothesis would continue that nobody was concerned about it being a forgery because nobody was really concerned whether Saddam was trying to obtain material for nuclear weapons. Mr. Bush may have known that the Niger document was a forgery. Even if he did, the information was seen as something on which to sell the war, not as anything that was an actual concern. Consequently, it would be used for public relations.

The fight against terrorism, the actual existence of Saddam's unconventional weapons, the sanctity of the UN charter and Secuity Council resolutions and Saddam's brutal tyranny are all red herrings. They were used as pretexts and nothing else. The members of the junta, including Mr. Bush, didn't care whether these reasons were true or not as long as people could be made to believe they were. As long as they didn't care about the veracity of the claims, why should they have been concerned about the authenticity of material used to support those claims?

Perhaps no one bothered to tell Mr. Bush that the document was a forgery. No one care that it was, and every one knew Bush didn't care, either.

[young_at_heart]

41. Excellent points!

It's becoming very clear to all who will listen that these people have one goal...POWER...and whatever it takes to reach that goal will be put into operation. If lying is required, then "so be it".

[ewagner]

49. ...exactly...

"....Mr. Bush may have known that the Niger document was a forgery. Even if he did, the information was seen as something on which to sell the war, not as anything that was an actual concern. Consequently, it would be used for public relations".

I agree with this point. Selling the war to the American public was a public relations masterpiece. The info didn't have to be the literal truth as far as this administration was concerned.

[Jack Rabbit]

52. Thread in GD based on that post

Please click here.

[ignatius]

35. The liars keep lying. They are all pathologically sick..sick

people. Throw the bums out now!!!

[Sushi_lover]

42. CIA is getting hosed

They got pushed around leading up to the war.

Now they're the scapegoat?

Those are the wrong people to screw over. Buy some popcorn, sit back and watch the show.

[bvar22]

43. Not my fault, I was "Outta the LOOP!"

This seems to be a recurring pattern whenever a bush* gets caught with their ass showing. Poppy used it to duck Iran/Contra.

If you watch the tapes of the SOTU, you can see the lie as bush* carefully emphasizes the British source for this info. He was purposely vague about all the other intelligence sources in the SOTU.

HE KNEW HE WAS LYING!!!!...but being a coniving reptile, this was inserted for CYA.

I have some misgivings about all the focus on this one particular LIE. I'm worried that if the scummy reptilian NEOCONS manage to duck this one particular LIE, The BIG LIE that IRAQ posed an IMMEDIATE THREAT TO OUR SECURITY may fall in the memory hole.

[bushisanidiot]

46. AWOL and Rove Misunderestimate the short attention spans

of americans. They don't care about 'technicalities'. To the american people.. AWOL lied in order to strike fear in the hearts of americans and pushed us towards support for pre-emptively attacking iraq.

i think even die hard repukes know AWOL's goose is cooked.. you can't lie and try to get out of it on a technicality.. no one is going to buy it.. no one cares about the details. "BUSH LIED" will be what brings the squatter down..

[David Zephyr]

47. Condi Guilty As Hell. "In the Bowels of the White House" Gave Her Away

Language is so revealing, isn't it.

When I first heard the "in the bowels of the White House" statement, it smacked of overstatement, of a truly contrived statement to place distance between her and the evidence.

I have heard this from a great number of other people who immediately recognized the statement for the diversionary tactic that it clearly now has proven to be.

Condi and George are both over in Africa sweating bullets right now.

They do not know what is going on with their staffs at the White House behind their backs.

By the way, things do not get into the bowels of the anatomy without first making their entry through the head.

[joeunderdog]

53. Unless your head is already up your ass. eom

[susu369]

61. LOL - so true

*eom*

[FubarFly]

48. Is it now public policy to cite British intelligence...

in the SOTU without first checking our own?


"Well we've got nothing, but the Brit's say they have multiple secret sources."

"Multiple secret sources eh, what do you know?"

"Well the Niger document was total bull-"

"Nevermind. If the Brit's say they got sources then that's good enough for us."

:eyes:

[Fleshdancer]

50. At some point, the CIA is going to say enough is enough

This is an organization that handed intelligence reports concerning bin laden and the concept of hijacked planes flying into large buildings over to the then new bush admin and they weren't taken seriously.

After 9/11, it was our intelligence community that was blamed for what happened. I can't imagine the CIA was all too happy about the creation of Homeland Security. Remember the hoopla about that?

Not only were the uranium documents forged, but they were forged badly. I have a hard time believing the CIA would approve it for the State of the Union address.

The CIA, like any organization is not perfect...but I don't think they're stupid enough to keep taking this crap from this administration. Not only does it make them look like a joke here in the US, but I imagine it lessens their credibility to other intelligence communities abroad...something too important to jeapordize just because a small group of neochickenhawks wanted a war, lied about it, and didn't want to get caught.

That being said, the plot would make for a good Clancey or Ludlum novel.

[Norbert]

55. I've heard Condi say that before.

Remember she said Clintons National Security Team supposedly never gave her any red flags about al-Qaeta either. When her ass is held close to the fire her memory starts to get erratic.

[philosophie_en_rose]

62. What the hell does she do, then?

Is she and the rest of the Bush junta so incompetent that they don't fact check at all? They just couldn't have been so corrupt that they grasped for lies, instead of evidence - could they? ;-) Does she really need Bill Clinton to come and tell her what to think?

The Bush administration cannot be trusted to do elementary fact checking. We were right all along.

Bush lied and people died.

[cyr330]

56. That Lying Sack of. . . .

She can't tell the truth about anything--just like the rest of those thugs who are squatting in Al Gore's house.

[DoYouEverWonder]

58. The problem with the WH

is that they didn't just lie about the yellowcake. They lied about almost everything else. We need to look at the big picture. So what if they can debunk the Niger story and blame it Tenet or Blair. How about all the other lies that were in just the SOTU? How about all the other lies, that they told for months in every other forum, from the UN to Meet the Press?

We are not talking a little white lie about cheating on your wife. We are talking about a pattern of behavior. We are talking about a multitude of lies and deceptions in order to implement their plans for a preemptive war. We are talking about abuses of power that make Nixon look like a Boy Scout. We are talking High Crimes and Misdemeanors. It is time to see some of Bu$hCo doing the perp walk.

[indypaul]

60. And since we were

pissed at the Germans and French no one even thought to check with
their intelligence sources, right? Anyone in this administration
ever heard of "trust but verify" made famous by their own hero?
No, we'll go with one source of information and just know that it will be realiable. Bull Shit, just more evidence of the incompetency of these fools. How much longer can we or should we tolerate them? Hasn't there been sufficient damage to our foreign relations, economy and security by their foolish actions and inexperience? It is past time for introduction of an impeachment resolution in the House of Representatives; the quicker the better if this nation is to survive.

[peterh]

63. Has Rod Stirling come back to give us one more Twilight Zone…..

We have Intel agencies in three counties (the party of the willing), the U.S., the U.K. and now Australia that now can be categorized as the three stooges along with the stooges they report to. Simply fucking amazing.


<http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6740509%255E1702,00.html>

THE latest Australian spy agency to confirm it was aware of doubts over Iraq's nuclear weapons program withheld the information from the relevant minister because it was not seen as significant, the Defence Department said.