US report gives Bush a breathing space

[seemslikeadream]

Critics of the investigation have put that reticence down to the fact that CIA minders were present at the questioning and to the fact that, in purely career terms, it would be worse to admit changing analysis in response to political pressure, than getting the analysis wrong in the first place.

Whether or not the analysts who spoke to the committee felt they could speak freely or not, none implicated the administration.

However, the senate committee found that Doug Feith, the undersecretary of defence for policy, had set up an Iraq "intelligence cell" inside the Pentagon to forage through old reports about links between Baghdad and al-Qaida, which Mr Feith's boss, Donald Rumsfeld, and the vice-president, Dick Cheney, used to second guess the CIA's scepticism on the matter. Much of the intelligence it processed came from the Iraqi National Congress (INC) and its leader, Ahmad Chalabi.

But as Mr Rockefeller put it yesterday, the committee felt it had only scratched the surface. "We've done a little bit of work on the number three guy in the defence department, Douglas Feith, part of his alleged efforts to run intelligence past the intelligence community altogether, his relationship with the INC and Chalabi, who was very much in favour with the administration. And was he running a private intelligence failure, which is not lawful?"

more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1258055,00.html
Thanks
muriel_volestrangler

[opihimoimoi]

1. No Breathing room here: In fact, goes the opposite way.

Mr Feith was in there to spice the reports/findings/etc to suit their tastes, color the soup sorta speak....

The Pubs are guilty of cover up/distortion/distraction.

[seemslikeadream]

2. Funny story about that mention of the Office of Special Plans oops!

I mean unmention of the Office of Special Plans. At 8:00 last night it was in the article.


muriel_volestrangler (1000+ posts) Fri Jul-09-04 08:09 PM
Response to Original message

6. At last! One major news outlet has mentioned the OSP!

Edited on Fri Jul-09-04 08:09 PM by muriel_volestrangler
The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1258055,00....



Yet when the analysts came before the committee, as the report points out, none "stated that the questions were unreasonable, or that they were encouraged by the questioning to alter their conclusions regarding Iraq's links to al-Qaida."

Critics of the investigation have put that reticence down to the fact that CIA minders were present at the questioning and to the fact that it, in purely career terms, it would be worse to admit to changing analysis in response to political pressure, than getting the analysis wrong in the first place.

Whether or not the analysts who spoke to the committee felt they could speak freely or not, none implicated the administration. The single exception to this appears to be Doug Feith, the under-secretary of defence for policy, who set up the Office of Special Plans to prepare the way for the invasion, and who is alleged to have set up his own channel for unvetted intelligence from the Iraqi National Congress (INC) and its leader, Ahmad Chalabi.

But as Senator Rockefeller put it yesterday, the committee felt it had only scratched the surface. "We've done a little bit of work on the number three guy in the defence department, Douglas Feith, part of his alleged efforts to run intelligence past the intelligence community altogether, his relationship with the INC and Chalabi, who was very much in favour with the administration. And was he running a private intelligence failure, which is not lawful?"

I'm not quite sure what he means by "running a private intelligence failure" - maybe it should read "private intelligence operation"? Still, at least the names are out there.

pduck
OMG, You're right!
I could have sworn it was in the article yesterday.

seemslikeadream
Thanks so much
I wasn't sure of myself. Do you believe it's gone!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1960202#1964594



Democracy Now left it in
NBC: John Lehman Could Be Tapped To Be CIA Head
NBC News is now reporting that former Navy Secretary John Lehman, who is now serving on the 9/11 commission, has become the lead contender to replace George Tenet as the director the CIA. He served as Secretary to the Navy under President Reagan. Lehman is a longtime critic of the CIA and has close ties to neoconservatives in Washington. His brother, Chris Lehman, served in the Office Of Special Plans, the Pentagon's special intelligence unit that was set up to help make the case for the Iraq invasion.


http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/07/1354225

[opihimoimoi]

3. The Stench is over whelming....permeates through steel doors even.