Hoekstra: U.S. overclassifying Iraq papers

[Barrett808]

Hoekstra: U.S. overclassifying Iraq papers
By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The government is classifying too many documents confiscated since the 2003 Iraq invasion that might help rewrite the history on Saddam Hussein's rule, the House Intelligence Committee's Republican chairman said Tuesday.

Intelligence agencies also aren't doing enough to study the repository of information, Rep. Peter Hoekstra (news, bio, voting record), R-Mich., told an audience at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

"The bottom line on the documents is that they give us an insight into Saddam's rule that didn't exist before," Hoekstra said. "I would love to be up here giving you a detailed brief of what the intelligence community has found in the documents. I can't do that."

After six months of negotiations, Hoekstra secured an agreement with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to have millions of pages of Iraqi documents — most of which are in Arabic — reviewed for public release. Now, they are sitting in a military-run warehouse in Qatar.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060711/ap_on_go_co/iraq_documents

[Jackpine Radical]

1. WTF--Did Hoekstra have some sort of epiphany lately?

I assumed that his earlier lashing out was comprised of equal parts of 1)pique because the Bushies didn't tell HIM what they've been up to; 2) Trying to look more independent of the Bushies in the eyes of his constituency; and/or 3) Trying to get out ahead of some new revelation he knows is coming down the pike. And I'm mindful of his complicity with Santorum in pushing the old WMD nonsense once again. But he does keep squeaking. Now this. I have no particular idea of what to make of it. Maybe he found out something in those Arabic documents that's giving him indigestion. Who can say?

[Betsy Ross]

2. Could the classified documents

detail collusion between Saadam and *Co.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. What an interesting speculation.

Maybe Hoekstra sorta missed that bit when Saddam was desperately trying to surrender just before we attacked.

[tanyev]

3. The Bush Administration has already written the history on Saddam's

rule. They don't want any truth coming along and rewriting it, Peter.