Hersh: Cheney 'kept his foot on neck of' NIE

[kpete]

CNN: Seymour Hersh 'vindicated' by new Iran intel estimateDavid Edwards and Muriel Kane
Published: Wednesday December 5, 2007

Reporter believes Cheney 'kept his foot on the neck of' report

...............


The NIE apparently came as a surprise to President Bush, who insisted at a news conference the next day that "I was made aware of the NIE last week. In August, I think it was, John – Mike McConnell – came in and said, 'We have some new information.' He didn't tell me what the information was. He did tell me it was going to take a while to analyze."

However, the NIE was no surprise to veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, who has been writing about it since November 2006. Hersh told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday that he believes the White House deliberately kept the NIE bottled up for over a year because the vice president was dissatisfied with its conclusions.

"At the time I wrote that, there was a tremendous fight about it, because Cheney ... did not want to hear this," Hersh recalled. "I think the vice-president has kept his foot on the neck of that report. ... The intelligence we learned about yesterday has been circulating inside this government at the highest levels for the last year -- and probably longer."

As early as July 2006, Hersh had reported that the US military was resisting administration pressure for a bombing campaign in Iran, because "American and European intelligence agencies have not found specific evidence of clandestine activities or hidden facilities."

more at:
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/CNN_Seymour_Hersh_vindicated_by_new_1205.html

[spanone]

1. Can We Impeach cheney NOW?

[groovedaddy]

2. Yes, we can but, unfortunately, no, we won't.

Remember: It's off the table!!!

[theoldman]

3. How is Bush going to control us now without the Iran fear factor.

To be honest, I think the Iranians feared us a little back in 2003. Now that they know we are militarily weak because of Iraq, they no longer fear us. Maybe the next president will at least be able to get other countries to respect us.

[tekisui]

5. We need a new boogey man, and fast!

[tridim]

6. Bush and The Dick are the new boogey men.

And I think most people in this country are finally starting to get it.

They do NOTHING but terrorize the world to make themselves richer.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. it is obvious that the white house has not thought it through

I suspect that the cheneyists still are making their case, and pressing bush to threaten Iran. The Bush bubblemen have not figured out that the world has passed them by, and will never support an attack, not after we learned about the cover-up (cheney's) and lies (the whole damned admin).

I am beginning to think that Bush really did not know, and worse, did not CARE about the new intel early this year. He would simply leave it in Cheney's capable hands. And see where it got him?

Seriously, Bushbot advisors have not really had the impact of the NIE sink in. They have not thought it through. Bush's talk yesterday was exhibit 1, his talk today is exhibit 2.
For one thing, they are used to spin and lies, and are unused to having to think about a situation that they no longer control. On the other hand, people I have met from FBI and CIA were uniformly pretty bright people, and I suspect far smarter than the bushites. They KNEW exactly what the reaction would be to the NIE release.

[tekisui]

4. IMPEACH CHENEY NOW to prevent WW III

[Skidmore]

7. When it comes to Cheney, I know where I'd like to put my foot.

That's one evil bastard.

[Supersedeas]

8. po po Leslie Blitzer....doesn't know where to turn -- his hero is exposed as a fraud

[TBUSA]

10. If cHeney has lost another battle

will he retire? Seems the intelligence agencies have been undermining this administration ever since the Downing Street memo days. It now seems dIck is being neutered. Will he resign or 'create a new reality' by exploding conflict in the ME?
I see it as dIck and the military versus the intelligence agencies. By the way, the Intel folks may not be all that altruistic, they may just want a competent destroyer in there.
The republican Party should share in the blame for this tragedy. They did not protect our Country from terrorists, foriegn(911) or Domestic(neocon/pnac signers).They should be unable to hold elected office for 22 years.

[NMDemDist2]

11. now we know why Cheney's 'heart' took to missing beats

he knew he lost the fight to keep this under wraps and he almost had a coronary (literally)

[bdamomma]

12. Cheney everywhere you look he is totally involved in everything

he is a CRIMINAL.

[Olney Blue]

13. I'm so damn sick of the lies.