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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOn Syria Vote, Trust, but Verify - By Alan Grayson
On Syria Vote, Trust, but Verify
By ALAN GRAYSON
September 6, 2013
WASHINGTON THE documentary record regarding an attack on Syria consists of just two papers: a four-page unclassified summary and a 12-page classified summary. The first enumerates only the evidence in favor of an attack. Im not allowed to tell you whats in the classified summary, but you can draw your own conclusion.
On Thursday I asked the House Intelligence Committee staff whether there was any other documentation available, classified or unclassified. Their answer was no.
The Syria chemical weapons summaries are based on several hundred underlying elements of intelligence information. The unclassified summary cites intercepted telephone calls, social media postings and the like, but not one of these is actually quoted or attached not even clips from YouTube. (As to whether the classified summary is the same, I couldnt possibly comment, but again, draw your own conclusion.)
...
The danger of the administrations approach was illustrated by a widely read report last week in The Daily Caller, which claimed that the Obama administration had selectively used intelligence to justify military strikes in Syria, with one report doctored so that it leads a reader to just the opposite conclusion reached by the original report.
The allegedly doctored report attributes the attack to the Syrian general staff. But according to The Daily Caller, it was clear that the Syrian general staff were out of their minds with panic that an unauthorized strike had been launched by the 155th Brigade in express defiance of their instructions.
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We have reached the point where the classified information system prevents even trusted members of Congress, who have security clearances, from learning essential facts, and then inhibits them from discussing and debating what they do know. And this extends to matters of war and peace, money and blood. The security state is drowning in its own phlegm.
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Alan Grayson, a Democratic representative from Florida, is a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/09/07/opinion/on-syria-vote-trust-but-verify.html
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Attended another classified briefing on #Syria & reviewed add'l materials. Now more skeptical than ever. Can't believe Pres is pushing war.
If Americans could read classified docs, they'd be even more against #Syria action. Obama admn's public statements are misleading at best.
Little Star
(17,055 posts)Catherina
(35,568 posts)If Americans could read classified docs, they'd be even more against #Syria action. Obama admn's public statements are misleading at best.
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)Is he serious?
The interesting thing is the opinion by the President of a group aligned with PNAC.
Recently, the group gained attention for a lawsuit it brought in the Southern District of New York for Manhattan alleging that Iran was behind the 9-11 terrorist attacks.[citation needed]
Its website delivers news and intelligence concerning Iran.
In 2005, the website reported sources said that Iran "is planning a nuclear weapons test before the Iranian New Year on March 20, 2006", whereas a 2005 assessment by the International Institute for Strategic Studies concluded "if Iran threw caution to the wind, and sought a nuclear weapon capability as quickly as possible without regard for international reaction, it might be able to produce enough HEU for a single nuclear weapon by the end of this decade" assuming no technical problems [1].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_for_Democracy_in_Iran
Kenneth Timmerman
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Timmerman_Kenneth
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)Your attempt at character assassination, while par for the course with the authoritarian chorus, is ridiculously irrelevant. We need to be informed or as a people we cannot have a functional democracy. We've already fought a total bullshit war that ruined an entire nation, just a few years ago. Now we are being asked to start another one, and the alleged evidence justifying this war is highly dubious, and our actual motivations are not being openly discussed.
newfie11
(8,159 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)The Daily Caller is a rightwing rag.
A neocon who is advocating war with Iran who has made bogus claims about its nuclear program, who is trying to blame 9/11 on the Iranians is not trustworthy.
The Daily Caller report cited by Grayson was written by the president of neocon group
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023618138
MNBrewer
(8,462 posts)yep
Catherina
(35,568 posts)If Americans could read classified docs, they'd be even more against #Syria action. Obama admn's public statements are misleading at best.
Key point in @AlanGrayson's piece is that the Obama admin is preventing lawmakers from verifying claims against Syria
MNBrewer
(8,462 posts).... sheesh
Whisp
(24,096 posts)That's what he did with an OP under the name of Grayson here earler. Multiple links that appeared to be more of the story but led to GIMME MORE MONEY.