Former Sen. Bob Graham: Bush officials withheld key information on Iraq

[seafan]

Bush officials withheld key information on Iraq, former senator says

November 30, 2005
Knight Ridder Newspapers

By Frank Davies


WASHINGTON _ In the months before the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration resisted pleas from senators to assess the risks of a war, especially the prospect of Iraqi resistance, and failed to share with senators key information about weaknesses in the case for war, former Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., charged Wednesday.

...

"They ignored our requests. To the administration, it was always going to be Paris in 1944: We would be embraced, we'd go home and the Iraqi people would be happy," said Graham, who's teaching at Harvard University.

...

The National Journal reported last week that the CIA told Bush during his daily briefing 10 days after the 9-11 attacks that there was no link to Iraq, a finding that was repeated later in a longer CIA report.

Graham said that information was never passed to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

...

"We're seeing more evidence all the time that they were manipulating the intelligence, selecting what they wanted to hear and getting that on the front page, and trashing everything else," Graham said.

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[Rex]

1. Actions speak louder than words.

You agreed to the IWR because the WH lied so do something about it! File charges, scream foul, kick open the MSM doors and demand air-time. Formalize it in session. Threaten the Repukes with grave measures! Go get em!

[teryang]

2. Graham is full of it

An old intelligence hand like him bears personal responsibility for what has happened in Iraq. To play the fool to Cheney and the neo-cons is just not believable. He's no idiot, he's a pro. He knew it was bs. I'll never believe that he didn't know it was bs from day one.

He also knew that 911 was the pearl harbor planned event to open central asia to US military and economic penetration.

[seafan]

3. Another Graham quote:

snip...

Graham, who retired from the Senate this year, was among the 23 senators who voted against the resolution on the use of force in Iraq in October 2002. He said at the time that Iraq would become a diversion from the real war on terrorism and would drain resources and personnel from Afghanistan, where U.S. forces had routed the Taliban government, which had supported al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

"From the very beginning the administration defined the war in Iraq as a central piece in the war on terror," Graham said Wednesday. "You can try to sell that argument through repetition, even if the facts are against you."

Graham has been saying these things since 2002. I never miss an opportunity to listen when he has something to say.

[creeksneakers2]

4. Its not just Graham who is saying that

Meet the Press 11/27/05 Senator John Warner (R-VA)

MR. RUSSERT: But even back then, Senator Warner, and this is really important. This is what you said on August 27, 2002. "As I read and follow the debate, there appears to be a `gap' in the facts possessed by the Executive Branch and the facts possessed by the Legislative Branch."

The White House is now saying that you had every bit of intelligence that they had and yet, leading up to the war debate, you were saying there was a gap between what you knew and what the president knew.

SEN. WARNER: Well, I stand by that statement also. There are times in which I feel that we do not have the full knowledge, and as chairman of the Armed Services Committee, I have done my very best to assure that members of our committee do get the full intelligence. I also serve on the Intelligence Committee. And I feel very strongly that that gap should never exist. And apparently, at that time, I was of the opinion and I stand by the statement.