WP A1: Ex-CIA Official Faults Use of Data on Iraq ("cherry-picking")

[Pirate Smile]

Ex-CIA Official Faults Use of Data on Iraq
Intelligence 'Misused' to Justify War, He Says

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 10, 2006; Page A01

The former CIA official who coordinated U.S. intelligence on the Middle East until last year has accused the Bush administration of "cherry-picking" intelligence on Iraq to justify a decision it had already reached to go to war, and of ignoring warnings that the country could easily fall into violence and chaos after an invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

Paul R. Pillar, who was the national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005, acknowledges the U.S. intelligence agencies' mistakes in concluding that Hussein's government possessed weapons of mass destruction. But he said those misjudgments did not drive the administration's decision to invade.

"Official intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs was flawed, but even with its flaws, it was not what led to the war," Pillar wrote in the upcoming issue of the journal Foreign Affairs. Instead, he asserted, the administration "went to war without requesting -- and evidently without being influenced by -- any strategic-level intelligence assessments on any aspect of Iraq."

"It has become clear that official intelligence was not relied on in making even the most significant national security decisions, that intelligence was misused publicly to justify decisions already made, that damaging ill will developed between policymakers and intelligence officers, and that the intelligence community's own work was politicized," Pillar wrote.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/09/AR2006020902418.html

[sabra]

1. when it rains it pours - bad news for BushCo from every direction

pass the popcorn :popcorn:

[wordpix]

20. poor bushies are getting soaked--they should come out of rain to jail

[Dragonbreathp9d]

34. Yah, but unfortuneatly I dont think its making much difference

Americans are still blind

[rodeodance]

61. but he goes about his business. life goes on

[liveoaktx]

65. Video on CanOFun -compilation that includes Pillar comments

on Cheney's cherry-picking

[Tin Man]

2. Man - the hits just keep coming. How long can this misadministration last?

The NeoCabal getting pummeled by bad news these days - and the tempo seems to be increasing. :)

[wordpix]

22. I see the increasing tempo as groundswell to get rid of all BushCo before

term ends---thus preventing further damage and massive number of pardons for these felons.

Chris Matthews even suggested last night on Hardball that maybethe next pres should be sworn in several hours ahead of schedule to prevent the last minute pardons from * we can expect.

[magellan]

3. It gets even better further in

Pillar describes for the first time that the intelligence community did assessments before the invasion that, he wrote, indicated a postwar Iraq "would not provide fertile ground for democracy" and would need "a Marshall Plan-type effort" to restore its economy despite its oil revenue. It also foresaw Sunnis and Shiites fighting for power.

Pillar wrote that the intelligence community "anticipated that a foreign occupying force would itself be the target of resentment and attacks -- including guerrilla warfare -- unless it established security and put Iraq on the road to prosperity in the first few weeks or months after the fall of Saddam."

In an interview, Pillar said the prewar assessments "were not crystal-balling, but in them we were laying out the challenges that would face us depending on decisions that were made."

Pillar wrote that the first request he received from a Bush policymaker for an assessment of post-invasion Iraq was "not until a year into the war."

Seems BushWorld has got more leaks than an old waterbed now. You're going down, suckas!!

[rodeodance]

64. Intelligent people recognized the 'culture' we were about to invade, but

none were listened to. Instead we got cake wakes and roses.

Pillar describes for the first time that the intelligence community did assessments before the invasion that, he wrote, indicated a postwar Iraq "would not provide fertile ground for democracy" and would need "a Marshall Plan-type effort" to restore its economy despite its oil revenue. It also foresaw Sunnis and Shiites fighting for power.

[Pirate Smile]

4. more

"White House officials did not respond to a request to comment for this article. They have vehemently denied accusations that the administration manipulated intelligence to generate public support for the war.

-snip-
Instead, he describes a process in which the White House helped frame intelligence results by repeatedly posing questions aimed at bolstering its arguments about Iraq.
The Bush administration, Pillar wrote, "repeatedly called on the intelligence community to uncover more material that would contribute to the case for war," including information on the "supposed connection" between Hussein and al Qaeda, which analysts had discounted. "Feeding the administration's voracious appetite for material on the Saddam-al Qaeda link consumed an enormous amount of time and attention."

-snip-
Pillar describes for the first time that the intelligence community did assessments before the invasion that, he wrote, indicated a postwar Iraq "would not provide fertile ground for democracy" and would need "a Marshall Plan-type effort" to restore its economy despite its oil revenue. It also foresaw Sunnis and Shiites fighting for power.

-snip-
Pillar wrote that the first request he received from a Bush policymaker for an assessment of post-invasion Iraq was "not until a year into the war."

[KittyWampus]

57. I think these leaks and exposees are all orchestrated. White Hats

are working to defeat these vipers.

[FormerRepublican]

5. They're raining on Bushie's parade left and right today.

Tomorrow must be the day when all the really big news goes down - Friday news dump should be good.

[Straight Shooter]

6. I've been waiting a long time to use this smilie for the * administration!

:nuke:

[BadGimp]

7. This is a stunning damnation of the Bushco spin..

the administration "went to war without requesting -- and evidently without being influenced by -- any strategic-level intelligence assessments on any aspect of Iraq."

The administration has maintained that the best inteligence was what they based their decision on.

wow this is powerful. How much play will it get?

[Fandingo]

8. Doubletalk

How very convenient. The person responsible for the flawed information about WMDs finds himself innocent despite being wrong because of the way the information was "used."

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[freefall]

30. My thoughts exactly, Malikshah, but I couldn't have said it as well. n/t

[NightOwwl]

41. Idiotic statement and wrong to boot.

The White House had the correct intelligence...they chose to disregard it.

But I'm sure you know that, right?

[Fandingo]

45. Idiotic statement and wrong to boot.

"The White House had the correct intelligence...they chose to disregard it. But I'm sure you know that, right?"

What I know comes from the 9/11 and Senate Intelligence panel reports. Interesting stuff. There are no government officials at any level who did not believe Iraq had WMDs. They just disputed one aspect or another, and did not correct the wrong interpretations that they thought there were no WMDs. The government is rife with fraud and/or incompetence.

[NightOwwl]

46. Enjoy it while you can. n/t

[stop the bleeding]

47. this is fun - all officials?!? I wonder if Rice and Powell qualify

see here:


please read the whole piece you may want to clarify your previous statements.


2001: Powell & Rice Declare Iraq Has No WMD and Is Not a Threat


http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:baFLYjp-PA4J:www.thememoryhole.org/war/powell-no-wmd.htm+no+wmd+in+iraq+rice&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1

[stepnw1f]

77. oooops... generalization rebutted

"all officials..."

Nice try, liar....

[stop the bleeding]

48. patiently waiting for you to debunk post# 47 - oh yeah facts and truth

are hard to disprove.

I am ordering a pizza so I can sit back and watch the show.

thanks for playing

[stop the bleeding]

50. Tick tock - still waiting for debunking of post# 47 n/t

[Fandingo]

51. Tick Tock Tick Tock

Good thing I have a break and decided to check in otherwise you might be hanging on to my words for a much longer time.

Rice doesn't say there were no WMD's. Powel's quote is interesting, though qualified with "significant", he didn't qualify his feelings a hundred other times. Maybe it's a mistake, or diplomatese. Interesting nonetheless.

Read the Senate Intelligence Report. The American security services have long held Iraq had WMD programs, any disputes regarded certain programs and their size, not their existence. As for the missing anthrax it was found after the war that "Dr. Germ" had secretly dumped the stuff in the desert without reporting it to central government figures. That's the story anyway.

[stop the bleeding]

52. Powell was squeezed by WHIG and OSP read more about this

cooperativeresearch.org


as far as Senate Intel report(s), I put about as much stock in that as I do with the Senate Intel committee getting back to us on the famous November 2005 shut down of the Senate in regards to phase II of the Senate Intel. BTW they still haven't gotten back to us yet.

Couple this with the fact that alot of former CIA and State department officials are coming out to back up the claims that the OSP/Admin "Cherry Picked" the data.

I'm sorry your points are only valid when you stay within Senate Intel box, and that box is still being hashed out in regards to phase II, but when you start to include all of the other governmental departments it shows quite a different story.

Our glorious Administration consistently told us the American public "we know where the WMD's are" "we know they have this" "we know they have mobile WMD labs" ect.. outside of a little anthrax where did it all go??

First of all we have eyes in the sky and they would have surely seen the transport of WMD's from one place to another. I mean afterall, a program that is this big and known by all that is a threat to whatever surely would have been bigger than some anthrax. It is not like this stuff(a WMD program) can be loaded in the back of a Toyota and transported to a "secret" place without the eyes in the sky seeing it.

Also let's look at this little bit of fact, we had NO agents on the ground since Gulf I ie: how were we gathering all of this intel that only the neocons believed in? The IAEA even disputed the WMD claims the IAEA same people who just won a Nobel Prize, were really the only qualified poeple on the ground in Iraq.

So where was all of this glorious intel coming from, especially coupled with the fact that no other MAJOR freethinking country backed us up on these claims like we were backed up in Gulf I?

Let me know when you have more than a Rethuglican/neocon controlled Senate Intel report, cause I ain't buying your argument right now.

Thanks for playing though you got me thinking about some other RW talking points that I liked to debunk.

[stepnw1f]

78. DSM Supports the Conclusion that They "Fixed" the Intelligence

just thought I support your argument.

[JWS]

74. The difference

is that bushco was trying to establish that Iraq was about to complete a nuclear bomb, a much bigger statement than just Iraq has WMDs. And whether or not they believed what they were doing was right, they suppressed contrary intelligence to pursue their agenda, and for whatever reasons manufactured a war that is killing thousands of americans, hundreds of thousands of iraqis, and providing a training ground for terrorists. Its not mere double talk about "he knew she knew" at the time, bushco pursued an agenda to deliberately decieve the american people despite the overwhelming humanitarian cost.

[guruoo]

69. Welcome to DU

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. K & R. Interesting as a 2nd punch after revelation that Cheney OK'd

outing covert CIA agent Plame in order to sell the Iraq invasion to the US publc:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x370469
thread title (2-9-06 GD): Cheney 'Authorized' Libby to Leak Classified Information
Comment/excerpt: “Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, testified to a federal grand jury that he had been "authorized" by Cheney and other White House "superiors" in the summer of 2003 to disclose classified information to journalists to defend the Bush administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case to go to war with Iraq, according to attorneys familiar with the matter, and to court records.“ Direct link: http://nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2006/0209nj1.htm#
LBN thread on this:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2096783
thread title (2-9-06 LBN): Cheney 'Authorized' Libby to Leak Classified Information

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x372755
thread title (2-9-06 GD): KENNEDY ON REPORTS CHENEY AUTHORIZED LIBBY TO LEAK CLASSIFIED INFORMATION
Comment/excerpt: “These charges, if true, represent a new low in the already sordid case of partisan interests being placed above national security. The Vice President's vindictiveness in defending the misguided war in Iraq is obvious. If he used classified information to defend it, he should be prepared to take full responsibility. President Bush has clearly said he would 'clean house' of everyone who had anything to do with the Plame leak. The American people are also entitled to know whether the President knew that classified information was being used for this purpose, and whether he authorized it himself. In addition, they are entitled to know that the case will not be scuttled by the administration when the decisions are made on declassifying documents necessary for the trial. “

[Up2Late]

10. But most of us knew this already, didn't we, It was those who chose...

...ignorence who didn't.

Hey, is that where the word Ignore comes from?

[bleever]

11. So happy to nominate, and see the names of the other DUers responding,

knowing how long we all have been waiting for the sheer inertial force of American democracy, so dearly paid for by so many, to catch up with the crooks who thought they could hijack the process, hijack the media, and hijack the language, and play America like they play any game they've mastered.

But America is not a game to be mastered. It is a cause to be served.

This is the genius of our Constitution.

It will prevail.

[HuffleClaw]

12. CIA was more than just slightly miffed about how they were misused

by bushco. during the march to war and likely still are. and now with a new march to war, stuff like this comes out. very timely. should be funny to see how scotty spins this.

[Nightjock]

31. Scotty

The pResident has said several times his administration did not fabricate evidence. Congress saw the same evidence that the pResident saw. BLAH, BLAH, BLAH....

and 47% of the country will believe him. :(

[kskiska]

13. Novak again

Pillar wrote that the first request he received from a Bush policymaker for an assessment of post-invasion Iraq was "not until a year into the war."

That assessment, completed in August 2004, warned that the insurgency in Iraq could evolve into a guerrilla war or civil war. It was leaked to the media in September in the midst of the presidential campaign, and Bush, who had told voters that the mission in Iraq was going well, described the assessment to reporters as "just guessing."

Shortly thereafter, Pillar was identified in a column by Robert D. Novak as having prepared the assessment and having given a speech critical of Bush's Iraq policy at a private dinner in California. The column fed the White House's view that the CIA was in effect working against the Bush administration, and that Pillar was part of that. A columnist in the Washington Times in October 2004 called him "a longstanding intellectual opponent of the policy options chosen by President Bush to fight terrorism."

[grasswire]

14. that moniker will serve Pillar well

"a longstanding intellectual opponent of the policy options chosen by President Bush to fight terrorism."


That's quite a credential.

[Martin Eden]

79. "working against the Bush administration" ...

... which, in this context, means that Pillar was working FOR the truth and FOR the public he serves.

Novak and other right-wing hacks will try to smear Pillar, which is their only defense against the truth.

[Senator]

15. Translation: "Cherry Picking" == Terrorizing !!

The time has come to deny the DC/Euphemedia Analstocracy the comfort of their language of rationalization.

Keith Olberman got close tonight by saying that the bushkid decided to "scare the crap out of" the people in LA with his self-serving report of a foiled "terror plot" (more fanciful notion than operation). And Matthews was doing OK a few weeks back by correctly pointing out that "lying us into war" was coersive fear-mongering.

Since the bushkid claims to want "unvarnished" information, this is how it really lays out -- UNEUPHEMIZED.

They committed the MOST HEINOUS ACT OF TERRORISM IN HISTORY when they falsely threatened the American People with "mushroom clouds in 45 minutes."

Anything 20 guys with boxcutters could do pales in comparison. Even a years-off Iranian nuke or a "dirty bomb" is less threatening.

The **PNACons' "bomb threat" on our nation (resulting in the sacrifice our soldiers' lives) was only perpetrated to advance their own ideological and profiteering wet-dreams.

This was clearly premeditated criminal intent leading to willful criminal acts, that in the context of national security can only accurately be called HIGH TREASON.

Terrorizing our (once great) nation for whatever reason is far worse than Watergate, worse than Iran/contra, worse than pardoning co-conspirators to obstruct justice.

And we need to say so. Loudly. And refuse to shut up until full punishment is exacted.

--

{Note: Yes, this post is a cut/paste job that you've seen before. But that's the point. We need to be repetitive and forceful (hyperbolic) with our language. Wash, rinse, repeat. Tepid talk draws tepid action. Patriotism and morality no longer affords us such a luxury.}

----

**(pronounced pee-nah-cons)

--
www.january6th.org

[tuvor]

16. I'll never run out of reasons for posting this Toles cartoon.

[seemslikeadream]

17. kick

[stop the bleeding]

24. I love the smell of impeachment in the morning ----- smells like victory

[sinkingfeeling]

18. Surprise. Surprise.

[savemefromdumbya]

19. There's a saying that 'The chickens are coming home to roost'

or the chickenhawks?

[Just Me]

23. I'm enjoying validation of what we all knew. However, I'm wondering,...

,...when an administration intentionally defrauds this nation and her people, are their ANY consequences other than a loss of credibility or popularity?

Normally, fraud is a serious crime. Fraud of this magnitute (tens of thousands losing life and/or limb, hundreds of billions diverted) should, AT LEAST, get this man and his cabal removed from office.

:shrug:

[rodeodance]

63. the consequeces appear minimal most times to me.

[yorkiemommie1]

25. kicking

the * administration is a rogue administration!

[Beetwasher]

26. Now All We Need To Do Is LITERALLY Force Feed This Information

to everyone in the country.

[shantipriya]

27. War justification

Why is this news not the main headline in 1 inch letters in all the major newspapers?

[ohtransplant]

29. I'm glad to see those with "inside "knowledge speaking out.

I hope more of those "in the know" will gain courage from those who go before them. I'd love to see them all lined up at the witness table at Congressional hearings.

This drip, drip, drip needs to become a raging torrent against * and his treasonous band of thugs and criminals.

[MissMillie]

32. most important line

"If the entire body of official intelligence analysis on Iraq had a policy implication," Pillar wrote, "it was to avoid war -- or, if war was going to be launched, to prepare for a messy aftermath."


Ya think?

[Jackpine Radical]

33. Somebody please try to convince me that any of this

actually matters. The corporate media won't touch this story--at least they won't trumpet it like they did Kerry's supposed flip-flops--an unless they do, it won't even register on the consciousness of the voters. Just like DSM, Plamegate, Abramoff, Katrina, No Child Left Behind, the destruction of the environment, and all the other crimes, outrages & disasters perpetrated by this gang of demons.

[lonestarnot]

35. Me thinks bushilter has one too many problems to handle.

[cyclezealot]

36. and that is why experienced operatives must be replaced

asap and replaced with political hacks who take their marching orders without question.

[PhilipShore]

37. CNN--Ex-CIA official: Bush administration misused Iraq intelligence

CNN
WORLD
Ex-CIA official: Bush administration misused Iraq intelligence
February 10, 2006

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/10/iraq.intelligence/

(CNN) -- The Bush administration disregarded the expertise of the intelligence community, politicized the intelligence process and used unrepresentative data in making the case for war, a former CIA senior analyst alleged.

In an article published on Friday in the journal Foreign Affairs, Paul R. Pillar, the CIA's national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005, called the relationship between U.S. intelligence and policymaking "broken."

"In the wake of the Iraq war, it has become clear that official intelligence analysis was not relied on in making even the most significant national security decisions, that intelligence was misused publicly to justify decisions already made," Pillar wrote.

[twaddler01]

38. Something most of us already know

sometimes I wonder about everyone else though....

[NightOwwl]

39. Because it bears repeating...

The Bush administration disregarded the expertise of the intelligence community, politicized the intelligence process and used unrepresentative data in making the case for war, a former CIA senior analyst alleged.

link: http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/10/iraq.intelligence/index.html

[AntiFascist]

54. The MEDIA ALWAYS turns this around and makes it look like...

Democrats are using this for political purposes. The point that the administration is politicizing its most important functions needs to be driven home.

[SunDrop23]

40. You read this...

The former CIA official who coordinated U.S. intelligence on the Middle East until last year has accused the Bush administration of "cherry-picking" intelligence on Iraq to justify a decision it had already reached to go to war, and of ignoring warnings that the country could easily fall into violence and chaos after an invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

You read this and you understand the FACT * IS A LIAR...this isn't some partisan hack, this is the guy who was in charge of MIDDLE EAST INTELLIGENCE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD...so you digest all this, then you think of all those men and women in uniform who have died...and you ask yourself, well at least I ask myself. How in THE HELL can any RATIONAL HUMAN BEING continue to prop up that MURDEROUS BASTARD in the White House?!?!?!

Have we as a country become so complacent and so disengaged that we don't care about any of this.

Dammit this is frustrating the shit out of me. I'm going outside for some fresh air. I have an afternoon meeting with a client who is a real prick, so I don't need to go into that conversation already enraged.

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

42. Read The Article

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060301faessay85202/paul-r-pillar/intelligence-policy-and-the-war-in-iraq.html

In addition, the intelligence community offered its assessment of the likely regional repercussions of ousting Saddam. It argued that any value Iraq might have as a democratic exemplar would be minimal and would depend on the stability of a new Iraqi government and the extent to which democracy in Iraq was seen as developing from within rather than being imposed by an outside power. More likely, war and occupation would boost political Islam and increase sympathy for terrorists' objectives -- and Iraq would become a magnet for extremists from elsewhere in the Middle East.

[yurbud]

43. Most important detail here: it was on A1

A lot of these stories have run, but on A17 after the stories on cat herpes or the quilting in the Amish community.

A1 is the newspaper equivalent of getting on the TV news at all--it will seep into the public consciousness.

[paineinthearse]

44. Special Plans: The blogs on Douglas Feith and the faulty intelligence ....

http://www.wmjasco.com/0490/049-0.html

Special Plans: The blogs on Douglas Feith and the faulty intelligence that led to war
Selected and with an
introductory essay
by Allison Hantschel (Athenae of First Draft)

Here’s a story of espionage, think tanks, power brokers, a crazy drunk named Curveball, and Douglas Feith—the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy whose Office of Special Plans oversaw the enormous manipulations and failures of intelligence that led to the U.S. war and occupation in Iraq.

“Special Plans offers invaluable insight into a key figure behind the propaganda campaign that swayed Americans to support Bush’s Iraq War. Douglas Feith didn't get much coverage in the mainstream press because he was ‘just’ an undersecretary in the Defense Department. But this collection of blog entries about Feith reveals that he was much, much more than that. This book is a testament to the fact that the new Internet media delivers needed information that the mainstream press no longer covers in detail.”
—Mark Karlin, Editor and Publisher
BuzzFlash.com

[Epiphany4z]

49. my my my

Bush is just not having a good week is he. about fuckin time thats all I am sayin.

[abester]

53. Hmmm I like that word,

"cherry picking". Let's take the Niger-Uranium. It took the IAEA about 3 days to find out the salepapers were a hoax (according to Baradei). France also knew of it as being false. Yet intelligence had the paper in possession for months.
Aluminium tubes anyone? The State Dept. knew the tubes were unfit for use in a purification centrifuge.

Cherry Picking implies favouring some facts above other facts and therefor hardly applicable in this case since the facts were known to be lies and outright fabrications. Let's have a look at a dictionary.

Fraud, n:
Definition:
1. something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery

Lie, n:
Definition:
1. a statement that deviates from or perverts the truth

Make your pick, but saying it was a case of 'cherry picking' is at least a euphemism and probably a lie.

[freefall]

55. This story received major attention on Situation Room. Blitzer appeared to

be taking it very seriously. I don't own a TV so my knowledge of how things are covered on CNN comes mainly from DU. I'm visiting relatives and based on tonight's show I would have to say the * administration is taking major hits. They had Scooter Libby then FEMA hearings and then the Paul Pillar segment. (I might have the order wrong.) More FEMA hearings to come but I quit watching.

[rodeodance]

56. both Tweety and Keith O. did good talk shows on this tonight.

[rodeodance]

58. the decison 'already made' should be connected to DMS-II -I would

think.

It has become clear that official intelligence was not relied on in making even the most significant national security decisions, that intelligence was misused publicly to justify decisions already made, that damaging ill will developed between policymakers and intelligence officers, and that the intelligence community's own work was politicized," Pillar wrote.

[rodeodance]

59. 'fix the intell' has a familiar right to it.

[Vexatious Ape]

60. Da news

If you get all your info from mainstream corporate media, then this is real news. However if you've actually picked up a book or two on currant affairs from a left of center POV then this is old news. The INC, Iraqi National Congress led by--I'll F up the spelling on this one--Akmed Chalabi--were the idiots who fed the Neocons what they so desperately needed--fabrications about WMD's, and in turn fed the the American public--as bush says, catapult the propaganda.

[rodeodance]

62. cheney is a cherry picker-cheney is a cherry-picker, cheney is a....

[DemoVet]

66. Now what if Bill Clinton had done this?

NOW can we get some Democratic attack dogs to start pushing the blindingly obvious fact that this administration had decided to invade Iraq before they even began gathering the "intelligence" to justify their actions? That they deliberately put Americans and Iraqis in harms' way for reasons that they themselves knew weren't valid? Jeebus Frist, we've had the Downing Street memo for how long now?

Look, here's what you do. Rent a large room somewhere in DC next week. Set it up to look as much like a hearing room as possible (no fricking banquet tables fer crissakes!). Get ALL of the House and Senate Democrats whose committees oversee this area (Intelligence, Foreign Relations, etc) sitting on one side and as many witnesses as volunteer to come forward and talk on the other. Acknowledge that it's not official at the beginning (but only once) and emphasize that the Republicans won't look at this stuff, especially Pat Roberts, who reneged on a promise to look at this once the elections were over. Make it a competence issue(can these people really be trusted with using intelligence to really protect us?)as well as dealing with Republican dishonesty. Use the "LIE" word early and often. Yes, they lied, and the majority of Americans think so too. The majority also don't think we should have invaded or that George knows what he's doing. The majority, and here's the key, think that intelligence was manipulated to get us into war.

And if you've got time, start another hearing on Katrina. And Plamegate. And the rampant corruption and incompetence in Bremer's CPA. And Cheney's meetings with energy industry lobbyists. And so on, and so on.....

Look the majority of the public is with us on most of this, but they're not going to come flocking to Democrats in November unless they see that Democrats are serious about dealing with these issues. Yeah, we've got to win a few elections in order to really start opening this stuff up but given that the republicans have stripped Democrats of pretty much any official power to look into this stuff (and the supine media has no interest in doing their job) then it's time to go unofficial. And bold, even if we are Democrats.

[guruoo]

67. Ex-CIA Official: Bush Admin 'Cherry Picked' Iraq Intelligence

Ex-CIA official says Bush 'cherry-picked' Iraq intelligence


WASHINGTON (AFP) - A former CIA official who oversaw US intelligence on the Middle East accused the US administration of "cherry-picking" intelligence on Iraq to justify a decision it had already reached to go to war.

Paul Pillar, who was the national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005, delivered the scathing criticism in a lengthy article in the latest issue of the journal Foreign Affairs. "The administration used intelligence not to inform decision-making, but to justify a decision already made," he wrote.

Pillar alleged the administration of President George W. Bush had ignored warnings that Iraq could easily fall into violence after an invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein. And the White House asserted that Saddam and Al-Qaeda had forged an alliance without reliable evidence from intelligence agencies.

"Official intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs was flawed, but even with its flaws, it was not what led to the war," Pillar wrote. Instead, he asserted, the administration "went to war without requesting -- and evidently without being influenced by -- any strategic-level intelligence assessments on any aspect of Iraq."

<snip>

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/7000/20060210/1505000001.htm&ewp=ewp_news_0206bush_intelligence&floc=NW_1-T

[Webster Green]

68. So is he insane, or merely disgruntled?

Stay tuned...:popcorn:

[JWS]

73. When things look bad

they start to eat their own.

[Up2Late]

70. NPR interviewed him today too, they read some even more choice parts...

...of the article at this link: <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5200992>


I think this was "The Big One" that the Bush Cabal was trying to distract us from with that 2002 L.A. Al Quida attack BS!

But I do like this part of the WP article:

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/09/AR2006020902418_2.html>

...In an interview, Pillar said the prewar assessments "were not crystal-balling, but in them we were laying out the challenges that would face us depending on decisions that were made."

Pillar wrote that the first request he received from a Bush policymaker for an assessment of post-invasion Iraq was "not until a year into the war."

That assessment, completed in August 2004, warned that the insurgency in Iraq could evolve into a guerrilla war or civil war. It was leaked to the media in September in the midst of the presidential campaign, and Bush, who had told voters that the mission in Iraq was going well, described the assessment to reporters as "just guessing."

Shortly thereafter, Pillar was identified in a column by Robert D. Novak as having prepared the assessment and having given a speech critical of Bush's Iraq policy at a private dinner in California. The column fed the White House's view that the CIA was in effect working against the Bush administration, and that Pillar was part of that. A columnist in the Washington Times in October 2004 called him "a longstanding intellectual opponent of the policy options chosen by President Bush to fight terrorism...."

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/09/AR2006020902418_2.html>

Would this mean that Bob Novak outed TWO (2) CIA agents!?!?

[understandinglife]

71. Pillar now on the front page of the New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/11/international/middleeast/11intel.html?_r=1&ei=5094&en=37bd9f4bac0b99c0&hp=&ex=1139634000&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1139634223-IB2wGuN8ZLeERSUJWMLUXA


Peace.

[JWS]

72. Good God Seriously

This is like one of five big stories this weekend that could mean political death for bush, but I wonder if people are watching.

[goforit]

76. The only action that would be bad for bush is an ENTIRE CIA REVOLT!

This one time little old voice attack carries no weight!!!

[DemReadingDU]

75. Released on a Friday

Who is paying attention?

[Patrick J Fitzgerald]

80. Who's Paying ATTENTION?

Me!

This is a travesty. It's a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.

http://patrickjfitzgerald.blogspot.com

[Patrick J Fitzgerald]

81. I am all over this...

This is a travesty. It's a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.