Bush official: Congress was briefed (on "secret program")

[sabra]

Source: MSNBC

From NBC's Andrea Mitchell

A former senior White House official involved in counterterrorism programs tells NBC News that the presidential "finding" -- the order -- to go after Al Qaeda after 9/11 was briefed to Congress, but that Congress was kept in the dark about the implementation of the order.

Why not? The Bush administration official said "they didn't ask" -- but other officials say that CIA Director Leon Panetta was told the agency was following instructions from former Vice President Cheney not to disclose the program.

Democrats and some Senate Republicans on the intelligence committee say that even if the program was "on-again, off again" and not fully operational, Congress should have been briefed. That is also the view of the CIA officials who briefed Panetta on June 23rd. Panetta followed their recommendation and immediately notified Congress.

Read more: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/13/1994598.aspx

[Captain Hilts]

1. Gee, what motivation have Bush Admin officials to say that? nt

[Demeter]

2. Keep talking, Bushites, and You'll ALL End Up Where You Belong

and it will make Gitmo look attractive.

[underpants]

3. Blahblahblah yaddayaddayadda lieslieslies

[Grey]

4. And the Bush administration official's name is?

If they don't name these people how do we know that they are not just making up stuff?
If you can't verify it's all just fog & whistles....

[winyanstaz]

5. So why isnt Cheney in jail?

Is the CIA now out of control and needs to be disbanded? At the very least..heads should roll, someone should be fired, hearing should be held. Where is the law?

[alfredo]

6. Could have Repubs received different briefings than the Dems?

[damntexdem]

7. Congress wasn't so much briefed as given wedgies.

That's why it has its panties in such a twist.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. You've got to be kidding me. "They didn't ask" is the best they can do?

We're not to blame, it's their fault for not asking!

I'm speechless.

On edit: Am I reading this correctly?

In essence they're saying Congress was briefed of a possibility of a plan. But they were never told about the implementation of a plan? Then Cheney tells the CIA not to inform Congress about the final plan and it's implementation?

Since Congress never returned to the CIA and asked them if they'd come to a decision on the plan, they're asserting they were under no obligation to tell Congress?

[santamargarita]

9. Would the Bush Crime Family lie?

:sarcasm:

[No Elephants]

10. So, "don't ask, don't tell" applies to CIA assassination squads, too? It is my

notion that the legal obligation to disclose to Congress is, well, a legal obligation to disclose to Congress. It does not impose upon Congress any duty to ask, nor is the obligation to disclose to Congress conditioned upon Congress's asking.

Executive Branch: We'd really like to get the s.o.b.'s who hit the Twin Towers.

Congress: We'll, duh!

Executive Branch: (Whew! They never asked if we were going to use an assassination squad. Dodged a bullet there!)

[rschop]

11. re: Executive Branch: We'd really like to get the s.o.b.'s who hit the Twin Towers.

Executive Branch: We'd really like to get the s.o.b.'s who hit the Twin Towers.

How about the SOBs that deliberately allowed the al Qaeda terrorists to carry out these attacks on 9/11 at the CIA and FBI HQ. There is now iron clad proof that people in both agencies intentionally allowed these terrorists to carry out these attacks on 9/11 by shutting down all FBI criminal investigations of al Qaeda terrorists known to be inside of the US.

The CIA and FBI HQ even knew that the al Qaeda terrorists inside of the US, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi were here only in order to take part in a huge al Qaeda attack on a US target, that would kill thousands of Americans.