Paper on Iraq Given to Bush Is Held Back (claiming executive privilege)

[UpInArms]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/14/politics/14inte.html

WASHINGTON, July 13 - The White House and the Central Intelligence Agency have refused to give the Senate Intelligence Committee a one-page summary of prewar intelligence in Iraq prepared for President Bush that contains few of the qualifiers and none of the dissents spelled out in longer intelligence reviews, according to Congressional officials.

Senate Democrats claim that the document could help clear up exactly what intelligence agencies told Mr. Bush about Iraq's illicit weapons. The administration and the C.I.A. say the White House is protected by executive privilege, and Republicans on the committee dismissed the Democrats' argument that the summary was significant. (emphasis mine)

The review, prepared for President Bush in October 2002, summarized the findings of a classified, 90-page National Intelligence Estimate about Iraq's illicit weapons. Congressional officials said that notes taken by Senate staffers who were permitted to review the document show that it eliminated references to dissent within the government about the National Intelligence Estimate's conclusions.

"In determining what the president was told about the contents of the N.I.E. dealing with Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, qualifiers and all, there is nothing clearer than this single page," Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, said in a 10-page "additional view" that was published as an addendum to the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on Friday.

<snip>

Among the specific dissents excluded from the public white paper on Iraq's weapons was the view of the State Department's intelligence branch, spelled out in the classified version of the document, that Iraq's importation of aluminum tubes could not be conclusively tied to a continuing nuclear weapons program, as other intelligence agencies asserted. Also left out of the white paper was the view of Air Force intelligence that pilotless aerial vehicles being built by Iraq, seen by other intelligence agencies as designed to deliver chemical or biological weapons, were not suited for that purpose.

...more...

[doctorbombeigh]

Executive privilege? We know what that means...

GUILTY.

[shockingelk]

13. The WH denied access to any and all PDBs

From the Senate Intelligence Report, page 3:

The Committee's request to review Presidential Daily Briefs (PDBs) relevant only to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities and links to terrorists was denied by the White House.

[doctorbombeigh]

1. Executive privilege? We know what that means...

GUILTY.

[Tellurian]

5. But Executive Privilege only applies to duly elected presidents..

not appointed ones!

Appointed presidents are CEOs...

[Zen]

2. Sometimes I think a group of congressmen should just

overun the place and get all the information they are hiding.

[aquart]

3. Elect George! Buy popcorn for the impeachment!

[fearnobush]

10. I love it. I need a bumper sticker of that.

[daleo]

4. So the chimp went to war, based on a one page summary?

I don't know what to believe anymore. I almost prefer this to be a lie, meant to insulate the chimp from blame and foist it on the CIA. It is truly frightening to think he makes decisions about war and peace from a one page executive summary. I mean, did the one page include pictures too? Maybe he really can't handle anything more complex than "The Pet Goat".

On edit - Clinton would have thought the 90 page report was an executive summary, and would have been asking for the real thing.

[UpInArms]

6. probably had to have someone read it to him - and explain

all the words containing more than one syllable.

[mike_c]

7. that's likely the reason that a one-page summary was written...

...in the first place: so someone could conveniently read it to the chimp-in-chief while he was resting his thumbs between Gameboy sessions.

[Justitia]

12. I don't think he even read the summary!

George W Bush was going to war NO-MATTER-WHAT.

Invade & Destroy Iraq = Priority # 1, from Day One.

Summary or no summary, hoisting the Bush flag in Bagdad was a foregone conclusion, the rest was just window dressing.

[frylock]

8. 80 copies of the one-page summary had been distributed to the white house

In his written statement, Senator Durbin said the C.I.A. had told the intelligence committee that 80 copies of the one-page summary had been distributed to the White House, a fact he called an indication that the document had not been prepared exclusively for the president. He said the summary "contains no intelligence beyond that contained" in the broader intelligence estimate, which was provided to members of Congress and to the committee, "and does not set forth policy advice that should be considered privileged."

Re-classifying de-classified docs once again.

[fearnobush]

11. I bet it reads like this: Saddam Hussain Determined to Attack Inside

the Unite States...Well, Not Really.

[Tellurian]

17. Well then, the classifying of the document was nothing more than..

the usual disinformation campaign meant to disrupt and obstruct justice.

[Solly Mack]

9. soon to be "inadvertenly destroyed"

[DeepModem Mom]

14. kick

[Disturbed]

15. Lets' go!!!!

One of those rank and file CIA that Bush made a scapegoat should release this one page to a few select newspapers and the Net. Hey! Post it here, K?

How much more is BushCo covering up?

2,000 pages that were accidently not copied of the Tabuga Prison Torture Inquiry have yet to be delivered after two freakin' months!!!

[dusty64]

16. Yet they are still

pushing for the Kerry rally video. Unfuckinbelievable.

[NJmaverick]

18. This is the problem when you have a dumb pResident

They have to taken an extremely important document that is the key to the a war that will kill thousands, and they need to shrink it down to all of one page, which is all bush could handle with his limited attention span!