Hagel-"It's beyond pitiful, it's beyond embarrassing,..."

[faithfulcitizen]

"Intel Officials Have Bleak View for Iraq"

snippet:

The estimate appears to differ from the public comments of Bush and his senior aides who speak more optimistically about the prospects for a peaceful and free Iraq. "We're making progress on the ground," Bush said at his Texas ranch late last month.

A CIA spokesman declined to comment Wednesday night.

The document was first reported by The New York Times on its Web site Wednesday night.

It is the first formal assessment of Iraq since the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on the threat posed by fallen Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

A scathing review of that estimate released this summer by the Senate Intelligence Committee found widespread intelligence failures that led to faulty assumptions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

Disclosure of the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq came the same day that Senate Republicans and Democrats denounced the Bush administration's slow progress in rebuilding Iraq, saying the risks of failure are great if it doesn't act with greater urgency.

"It's beyond pitiful, it's beyond embarrassing, it's now in the zone of dangerous," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., referring to figures showing only about 6 percent of the reconstruction money approved by Congress last year has been spent.

another snippet:

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said circumstances in Iraq have changed since last year. "It's important that you have some flexibility."

Hagel, Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and other committee members have long argued even before the war that administration plans for rebuilding Iraq were inadequate and based on overly optimistic assumptions that Americans would be greeted as liberators.

But the criticism from the panel's top Republicans had an extra sting coming less than seven weeks before the U.S. presidential election in which Bush's handling of the war is a top issue.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040916_177.html

[faithfulcitizen]

1. oh, and Lugar adds...

"Our committee heard blindly optimistic people from the administration prior to the war and people outside the administration what I call the 'dancing in the street crowd' that we just simply will be greeted with open arms," Lugar said. "The nonsense of all of that is apparent. The lack of planning is apparent."

Good to know there's a least a few repubs left with *some* amount of integrity.

[LittleClarkie]

3. Indeed, 750 at last count

I do love me some Republicans for Kerry.

[smirkymonkey]

34. Where is your sig picture from?

I like it!

[LittleClarkie]

2. Ah,

But when Kerry is flexible, he's flip flopping.

"White House spokesman Scott McClellan said circumstances in Iraq have changed since last year. 'It's important that you have some flexibility.'"

Gee Scott, when did y'all get on the flexibility bandwagon?

[teryang]

4. Purpose of the 18 billion slush fund- enrich contractors-

-with more war spending. Iraqi funds have been diverted to the same purpose.

With all the repuke carping and back biting, the blank checks will be signed as the corruption has reached a level of no return. These republican criticisms are nothing more than political CYA. The debacle is there for all to see, elections imminent. Nothing fails like a military failure.

[Bread and Circus]

5. The shit is finally hitting the fan.

[thebigidea]

8. the shit has been caked on the fan for years...

[NeonLX]

11. I think the fan burned out and was tossed years ago.

But the shit still seems as thick as it ever was.

Maybe Hagel has grabbed hisself a scoop shovel and wants to start in on the massive, steaming pile that's been accumulating...

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. I don't remember where I read it

but I also heard it mentioned by Bernie Ward that even when Iraq has elections in January, the people in certain "suspect" areas where the U.S. military is not in control will not be allowed to vote. That should further ensure good feelings of cooperation and peace in that country.

[Skinner]

7. Kick.

:kick:

[drscm]

9. I wonder, of the 600M spent, how much of it actually went to the needs

of Iraq and how much went directly into the pockets of the contractors.

[lancdem]

10. Hagel's comments are incredible

[barb162]

20. He and Lugar have cajones

[shance]

21. That may be, but I don't fully *get* Senator Hagel

And the fact he's on the Ethics committee with his ties to ES&S voting companies??

[Fleshdancer]

12. I wanted to be wrong about this war....

With all the money poured into it, with all the tall tales about WMD that we couldn't prove prior to attacking, with the fact that my brother was sent there...I had hoped I would be wrong about this war.

I thought we didn't have enough evidence. I was right.
I thought too much money was spent on this. I was right.
I thought we weren't keeping focus on OBL. I was right.
I thought we didn't have enough global support. I was right.
I feared looting. I was right.
I feared the deaths of countless innocent civilians. I was right.
I feared there would be too many coffins coming home. I don't see them, but I know I'm right. Then again, one coffin for this illegal war would be one too many.

I never wanted to be right about this. None of it.

[Dawgs]

13. What's sad..

Is that this article, and anyone like it, is being mostly ignored by any real news media.

I hope that changes.

[vogonity]

14. What happened with the Afghanistan money diverted to Iraq?

Remember the controversy that revolved around congress allocating money for the Afghanistan operation? Some of that was diverted to military preparations for Iraq. What ever happened with that? It seemed to me that it was blatantly illegal to divert funds elsewhere.

[Trajan]

15. It;s already too late ....

The svelte ballet dancer has missed his cue, and now must dance to the sound of RPG's raining down on the stage ....

The soldiers have been holed up in their camps, leaving only when in overwhelming numbers .... the contractors NEED physical security to do their work .... they cannot operate without extraordinary measures to maintain a minimum level of security: and they dont have that now ...

Now: they are robbing from the rebuilding funds to pay for security ... I suppose they dont need to rebuild anyways .... right ? ...

It isnt working: AGAIN the Neocon war-lovers are proven WRONG WRONG WRONG ...

Bush is the BEST America can do to make a strong america ? ....

BULLSHIT !

[indie_voter]

16. It is time for some political courage repub dudes

These moderate republicans need to come out and ENDORSE Kerry. This needs to be a bipartison effort, otherwise we go off proverbial cliff.

These guys can put qualifiers,endorse Kerry but make clear they might run against him in 4 years, but 4 more years of this administration is dangerous for us all.

[librechik]

17. This intel is all pre-war! What would the assesment be now??

snip

"document draws on intelligence community assessments from January 2003, before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the subsequent deteriorating security situation there."

[struggle4progress]

18. U.S. Intelligence Shows Pessimism on Iraq's Future (NYT)

By DOUGLAS JEHL
Published: September 16, 2004

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 - A classified National Intelligence Estimate prepared for President Bush in late July spells out a dark assessment of prospects for Iraq, government officials said Wednesday.

The estimate outlines three possibilities for Iraq through the end of 2005, with the worst case being developments that could lead to civil war, the officials said. The most favorable outcome described is an Iraq whose stability would remain tenuous in political, economic and security terms. <snip>

All the officials who described the assessment said they had read the document or had been briefed on its findings. The officials included both critics and supporters of the administration's policies in Iraq. But they insisted they not be identified by name, agency or branch of government because the document remained highly classified. <snip>

Separate from the new estimate, Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued other warnings on Wednesday about the American campaign in Iraq, saying the administration's request to divert more than $3 billion to security from the $18.4 billion aid package of last November was a sign of trouble. <snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/16/politics/16intel.html?pagewanted=2&th

[Moderator]

19. faithfulcitizen

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
copyrighted news source.


Thank you.

DU Moderator

[faithfulcitizen]

24. sorry, i didn't know nt

[AntiFascist]

22. What fan??

There's a lot of shit, but no fan! Where is the Media on all this, and especially this one:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1305708,00.html

I can't wait to see CBS Evening News tonight.

[obiwan]

28. Pity the media. Where's the shit?...

... the media is wallowing in it.

[LunaC]

23. Can we trade Hagel for Zell Miller?

Hagel's one of the very few Repugs I can listen to without getting totally pissed or disgusted. He's always appeared to be logical and honest to me......if only there wasn't that voting machine taint.

[Eloriel]

25. Logical and honest except for the voting machine "taint"

Hmmmm. There's really nothing I can think of to respond to that while still remaining even moderately civil. Maybe I can when I pick my jaw up from off the floor.

[Leilani]

27. Sorry, Hagel is one of the most loyal on the team

Every once in a while, he makes a statement that sounds reasonable, but talk is cheap.

When it comes to voting, he never leaves the reservation.

[huskerlaw]

32. Sad but true...

Although, talk may be cheap, but it's better than a) sitting there and saying nothing or b) defending Bush.

...wait a minute, that makes 2 pro-Hagel comments in one day. I do believe that's a record!

[fishnfla]

26. BTTT

[DURHAM D]

29. And Senator Hagel begins his presidential bid for 2008.

[arcos]

30. Yep, that's exactly what he is doing.... n/t

[huskerlaw]

31. Every once in a great while...

I'm actually proud to be from Nebraska! I can't believe I'm saying this, but gooooooo Hagel. :wow:

[nefarious]

33. Finally, the CIA has decided to throw Bush* Co. under the bus

For a long while I was concerned that the CIA gladly took orders from the * cabal because they viewed his plans for a terror hot/cold war as an opportunity to preserve themselves in a world with vastly reduced threats.

At least they have some integrity.

Now, how will Americans respond in the upcoming election?