Greg Thielman of State Dept intelligence says Bush violated Constitution

[papau]

Below is a prior interview with retired Director Greg Thielman of the U-S State Department's bureau of intelligence that confirms Bush former Treasury Sec O'Neill's report of Bush lying to the American people about the war. Today the BBC has a new interview with Greg Thielman which is being re-broadcast in NPR's "BBC Hour" where he states that what Bush did is the worst betrayal possible of the Constitution - I recommend taking the time to listen today.

Impeachment anyone?




http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/news/2003/intell-030714-37e51422.htm
In the ongoing controversy over U-S intelligence leading up to the Iraq war, the Bush administration has conceded one mistake: a reference in the President's State of the Union address to Iraq's trying to acquire nuclear weapons material from Africa. But the administration stands by other intelligence it used to justify the war, while critics remain skeptical. V-O-A's Ed Warner reports the debate.
TEXT:
In his determination to go to war, did President Bush overstate the case against Iraq based on faulty intelligence? Critics say he did, while supporters respond that a president can take no chances with protecting the American people and must prepare for the worst.
At a press briefing held by the Arms Control Association in Washington, a recently retired member of the U-S State Department's bureau of intelligence denied Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or ties to al-Qaeda terrorists, as the Bush Administration had insisted.
The CIA has taken the blame for the erroneous information that Iraq was trying to buy uranium from Niger, but Greg Thielman says the problem goes beyond that:
“I believe the Bush Administration did not provide an accurate picture to the American of the military threat posed by Iraq. Some of the fault lies with the performance of the intelligence community, but most of it lies with the way senior officials misused the information they were provided. This administration has had a faith-based intelligence attitude. It's top-down use of intelligence. We know the answers. Give us the intelligence to support these answers.
All indications were that Iraq was in no condition to turn out weapons of mass destruction, says Mr. Thielman. It had been defeated in the first Gulf War, crippled by economic sanctions and carefully monitored for these weapons by U-N inspectors.”

[NewJeffCT]

1. In Powell & Rice's own words

In their own words in 2001, both Colin Powell & Condileeza Rice claimed that sanctions had effectively neutered Saddam to the point where he was not even a threat to his neighboring countries, let alone the US.

[cthrumatrix]

7. their taped words will be the downfall of this empire

[tom_paine]

8. I wouldn;t be so sure, cthrumatrix

After all, still a vast majority of Imperial Amerikan Subjecst are incapable of seeing through the Matrix. Many are part and parcel of the system just as much as the "batteries" in the movie.

Remember what Morpheus said about them?

Plus, I still maintain the floor of the Imperial Senate would be slick with blood, perhaps metaphoricaly only, perhaps real, before the Imperial Family would step down when they ae so close to their goals of Unchecked Hegemony and Imperial Tyranny.

[NashVegas]

2. "Give us the intelligence to support these answers."

The saddest thing, to me, about that statement is that in so many ways, it's a typical American attitude at present.

For so many now, ideology is not formed by the results of logic, rather, the latter is the tool used to serve the former.

[RandomKoolzip]

3. What do we know about Thielman?

Is he trustworthy, or is he another O'Neill who'll spray paint a few slogans then come back home to roost? It'd be nice to have the goods for once....

[papau]

4. I know him to be honest. You are free to form your own opinion.

:-)

[Nihil]

5. Heard Thielman this morning ...

... on BBC Radio 4 while driving in to work.

It was interesting as I'd missed the "retired" bit of his introduction
so expected a State Dept bod to be defending Bush and hammering on the
party line counter-attack on O'Neill. Surprise!

Thielman came over very well, dropping Bush right in it but not
sounding partisan or bitter about it. It's exactly that kind of
rational presentation of the facts that is needed to get the truth
out to the big wide world.

Hope you get to hear the same stuff on the extract to be re-broadcast.

Nihil

[cthrumatrix]

6. write your congressman and senators