If we demand Part 2 of the Senate Intelligence report we'll get it

[IkeWarnedUs]

I recorded the press conferences by Senators Roberts and Rockefeller and then Wyden and Feinstein about the Senate Intelligence report on pre-war Iraq intelligence. I watched them last night and Senators Wyden, Rockefeller and Feinstein came out and said we can and should demand the second part of the Committee's report be released before the elections.

We have got to put pressure on Congress to finish the job before they recess or do not recess until they are done. Senator Rockefeller calls for the Senate to do just that.

Call Congress toll free - 800-839-5276

I transcribed what I recorded as best I can. My words are in parentheses. Here is what they said:

SEN. ROCKEFELLER: I have one comment I need to make, and that is that if we're serious about doing intelligence reforms, why do we have to be somehow limited by the fact that the leadership in the Senate and the House are saying that we're out of here after 20 legislative days?

We could work through August. We can work through September. We can come back after the election. We routinely did that in previous years, often working up until December 22nd.

This is the most dangerous moment in American history, the most devastating event in American history was 9/11. And the thought that somehow we can't get this done before the end of the year simply escapes me as an adequate rationale to honor the families of those who died and to protect the families and people who are still living, but may be in a lot more danger.

---------------

This I transcribed from the press conference with Senators Wyden and Feinstein:

SEN. WYDEN: (Senator Wyden shows page 50 from the report which is almost completely blacked out and he talks about the “wrestling” that goes on to get as much of their repot public as possible.)

Finally, given the public interest and public attention in this matter, we were able to wrestle a substantial portion out. That is what you and the American people are going to see.

The fact of the matter is this is not a fair process and it is not a process that is in the interest of the American people. It is absolutely critical that documents that need to be protected from a National Security standpoint are protected. But again and again we see that a lot of times these documents are not protected for National Security reasons, they are protected for political security reasons to protect individuals from embarrassment.

<snip>

SEN. WYDEN: I think it is absolutely imperative that the second part of our report come out before the elections. The American people have a right to know how that faulty intelligence was used.

The reason why is because bad intelligence and bad policy are not mutually exclusive. You can have both. I happen to think that’s what you had here. You had faulty intelligence that was then independently compounded by an administration looking for every conceivable rationale for going to war.

So, a lot of people in Washington are betting that part two of this report won’t come out before the election. I just hope that the Congress insist that it does, that all of you and others are aware that the heavy lifting for the Committee is still ahead and we have got to get that second part that deals with how intelligence was used out.

<snip>

QUESTION PERIOD
(The senators were asked why they voted for the two part report in February. Sen. Feinstein said they didn’t think it would take this long and that the second half would come out so late.)

SEN. WYDEN: It was really a question of basic math. We didn’t have the votes (single laugh from Sen. Feinstein) in order to have them both come out together. I think it would have been in the public interest to have it come out together. It was just that simple.

I’ll also say though, that between now and November there is ample time to get this out. There is ample time to make sure that the two are linked.

Again, Senator Feinstein and I have spent a lot of time, both on the committee and in our work in the Senate, trying to be bi-partisan. You’ve heard us talk about two pieces of legislation - the question of a (CIA) Director and the legislation Senator Lott and I are pursuing. Unfortunately you cannot drain, this time of the year, politics out of anything and nobody is naive and suggests otherwise.

I do think that it is so important to the country - this question of how intelligence was used - that we’ve got to find a way to get this out. I think if people understand - first that its doable and how important it is - we’ll get it out before November.

QUESTION, EPSTEIN OF THE CHRONICLE: Senator (Feinstein), what’s your opinion of this? Should it be before the election?

SEN. FEINSTEIN: Oh yes, I agree with Senator Wyden.

QUESTION: What’s your impression of the Committee’s report, their work, their status? How complete are they in their findings of how it was used? 50%, 60%? I mean, do they have a lot of work to go? Not much work to go?

SEN. FEINSTEIN: I think the great bulk of the work has been done. I think probably 80% or more there. The rest is just taking these findings and relating them to how they were used by the administration. That’s pretty easy to do because you have the statements made publicly and those statements had to be based on intelligence. The only, I think, question mark in all of this is are there things the administration saw that we didn’t see? I mean, we know the president receives a daily brief that we don’t see. Otherwise, if there are any other items that they have received that we don’t have, that will have to be brought out in this study.

SEN. WYDEN: There’s one other point on this question on the next round ahead for the committee and how the intelligence was used. You simply cannot have accountability unless you get the second part of the report out. In other words, everybody had been talking, well, so and so has been absolved. It’s really the fault of this sector and not the fault of that sector.

The whole point of the second stage of the report is to get the accountability that the American people are asking for. Again and again they’ve said, we’ve heard for years - I mean literally - all of you can go look at your Lexis Nexus and you can see intelligence failures going back certainly two decades. There are remarkable parallels between reports that highlight intelligence failures.

The question is whether this time there’s going to be anything different and whether there’s going to be accountability and whether, in the future, people like yourselves and members of the intelligence committee don’t have to spend weeks and weeks trying to keep most of our reports from looking like that.* Because I can tell you, if it wasn’t for the public attention and public visibility, that we have been able to put on this issue, a good chunk of the report, in my opinion, would have ended up with huge sections blacked out. You got a page from the report right there.



*********************************************************************

We have to contact Congress and tell them we want the second part of the report released ASAP.

Four women in New Jersey forced Congress and an independent commission to examine 9/11. 40,000 DU'ers can force Congress to finish the job before they go on vacation and back to try to convince their constituents what a good job they are doing.


Call Congress toll free - 800-839-5276

Use that number to ask for any of the following offices - tell them we demand that report be done now!

US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas
Vice-Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV, D-West Virginia
Orrin Hatch, R-Utah
Carl Levin, D-Michigan
Mike Dewine, R-Ohio
Diane Feinstein, D-California
Christopher Bond, R-Missouri
Ron Wyden, D-Oregon
Trent Lott, R-Mississippi
Richard Durbin, D-Illinois
Olympia Snowe, R-Maine
Evan Bayh, D-Indiana
Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska
John Edwards, D-North Carolina
Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia
Barbara Mikulski, D-Maryland
John Warner, R-Virginia


----------------------

Here's a link to the article about this by Senator Durbin in Friday's Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37952-2004Jul8.html

[Malva Zebrina]

1. I have written to my two Senators in very strong language

they are both Repulicans, voting for just about everything Bush. I suppose it is just plain naive to expect people in government positions to have any sense of ethics or morals

The keeping of half or more of the information from the people until after the election, who pay their salaries, and who they put their trust in , is absolute tyranny and is the methods used by tyrannical governments.

This is vote manipulation again.

Voters need access to ALL information in order to make an informed and intelligent vote. This is democracy, yhou know. We vote--and we need to know as much as we can about the candidate.

I am sorry--I bring up the Hitler theme again. This one looks like Hitler and Stalin both.

I said this to both of them--Collins and Snowe--I may have been too blunt--the Snowe letter came back. I must be on her ignore list.

This has made me so angry. It is the straw that broke the camel'
s back. How can any Republican NOT question this. How can any of them go to sleep at night, knowing they are Cheneying the American voter? It is vote interference all over again. I am livid with rage over this arrogant dismissal of the American voter.

Sickening bunch of greedy bastards all.

[IkeWarnedUs]

2. pick up the phone

If you think you are on Senator Snowe's ignore list, pick up the phone and call her office and tell them what you think.

Call toll free - 800-839-5276

Don't let them shut you out.

[calimary]

17. As a taxpayer - YOU PAID FOR THIS. You're entitled to see what

you got for your money. Including the SECOND HALF that they want to avoid until AFTER the election.

REMIND THEM OF THIS.

I tried to call Dianne Feinstein three times this morning. Lines were busy. GOOD GOING, guys! BURN UP THOSE PHONES! EXCELLENT!!!

[sadiesworld]

27. .

[redqueen]

28. .

[buycitgo]

3. THANK YOU FOR THIS!!!

bookmarking

off for summer; will call all senators who might be amenable:

all dems, cept Miller, and some pugs

[IkeWarnedUs]

4. I have to go out for a while - please keep kicking

We can do this.

The Senators practically begged us to do it.

Call Congress toll free - 800-839-5276

:kick:

[chelaque liberal]

5. Great work. Thanks

[Ann Arbor Dem]

6. kick

:kick:

[IkeWarnedUs]

7. Please don't ignore this

Maybe my transcription doesn't convey the message from these senators very well.

THEY WANT US TO HELP THEM GET THE TRUTH OUT!

We can do this. Call the Congressional switchboard this week (during business hours) and tell them you want to talk to the Senate Intelligence Committee and then keep calling back and talk to each of the member's offices. Call them all - Democrats and Republicans.

Call other Senators and tell them you want the whole story.

WE CAN DO THIS!

800-839-5276

[mzmolly]

8. Thanks for the heads up. I shall write my reps!

:hi:

[calimary]

9. Our own DUer grasswire mentioned the following: VERY IMPORTANT

"IF YOU REALLY WANT TO DO SOMETHING...make a phone call or send a paper letter. E-mails are quick and cheap and don't carry the weight of a phone call or a PAPER LETTER. Paul Begala says a hundred paper letters would change the direction of a news program." – DUer grasswire, 5/20/04

It is TRUE TRUE TRUE!!!

PLEASE do it. I wanna know WHY our Dems capitulated AGAIN!!!! This is NOT the whole story. We need to get it ALL out there. They know how to investigate. They proved it during the Clinton persecutions. As a taxpayer, I helped underwrite all this, the vast majority of which was AGAINST MY WILL!!! And now they DARE to hide it from me. I wanna see what I'm getting for my money.

[IkeWarnedUs]

10. That is so true Calimary

And since the Capitol mail is so slow now (thanks to the anthrax scare) phone calls or faxes are the most effective.

THEY DO LISTEN TO US

Call - 800-839-5276

[faithnotgreed]

11. agree! important to call and express the need for this to get done

[IkeWarnedUs]

12. Its Monday morning - time to hit the phones

Senator Wyden said it is only because of the public interest and public attention given to the question of pre-Iraq war intelligence we wouldn't even have the first half of the report.

Call Congress toll free - 800-839-5276

Make this an election issue. Tell Congress the American people deserve and demand to know how the faulty intelligence was used - NOW! Not 6 months from now.

Call Congress toll free - 800-839-5276

Tell Congress this is no time to go on vacation. Tell them if they want to convince their constituents they are doing a good job, actions speak louder than words. Finish the report!

Call Congress toll free - 800-839-5276

Start with the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Tell them to get busy finishing the 20% they have left to do to get this report finished.

Call Congress toll free - 800-839-5276

Call the members of the Committee. Tell Rockefeller, Wyden and Feinstein and Durbin they need to shout this from the rooftops. Tell the others to get on board and finish the report now!

Call Congress toll free - 800-839-5276

Its a free call. Call them from your cell phone while you wait in traffic. Call on your lunch hour. Call during a commercial break. Call while you wait in line. Just call!

Call Congress toll free - 800-839-5276

Pass this along to your friends and ask them to call. Post it on other message boards. Spread the word. We can do this.

Call Congress toll free - 800-839-5276

[redqueen]

13. Kick

Phones are busy today! I sure hope it's others calling about this!

[napi21]

14. I called Saxby and told him if I don't get the second report,

I will simply have to assume the WORST! There is no other reason for them to hide it!!!

[redqueen]

15. Exactly... it's obvious they're protecting people from embarassment

And please... don't forget to mention the Office of Special Plans!

:kick:

[redqueen]

16. Forget those online polls! Call all of these Senators' offices!

:kick:

[redqueen]

18. Six down, Eleven to go!

:kick:

This feels GOOOOOOOOD!

[calimary]

19. Holy smokes, guys! The line's even busy a lot of the time!

People must be burning it up!

And when it rings through, you wait and wait until one of the switchboard operators picks up.

STORM THE BASTILLE!!!!!!!!!!

It's Bastille Week, anyway!

[redqueen]

20. Ain't it great?

:kick:

[wicket]

21. kick!

[redqueen]

22. Kick!

:kick:

[redqueen]

23. And another

:kick:

[wicket]

24. Direct contact info for Senators on the Intelligence Committee

I compiled a list of contact info for all of the Senators on the committee for those who don't want to use the Senate's main number (these are toll calls though), and also the mailing info so we can send them letters. Let's keep this kicked until they release it!!!!

Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas
Washington Office:
109 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1605
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
11900 College Blvd., Ste. 203
Overland Park, KS 61210
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Vice-Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV, D-West Virginia
Washington Office:
531 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4802
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
405 Capitol St., #308
Charleston, WV 25301
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Orrin Hatch, R-Utah
Washington Office:
104 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4402
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
8402 Fed. Bldg., 125 S. State St.
Salt Lake City, UT 84138
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Carl Levin, D-Michigan
Washington Office:
269 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-2202
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
477 Michigan Ave., Ste. 1860
Detroit, MI 48226
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Mike Dewine, R-Ohio
Washington Office:
140 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3503
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
37 W. Broad St., Ste. 300
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Diane Feinstein, D-California
Washington Office:
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-0504
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
One Post St., #2450
San Francisco, CA 94104
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Christopher Bond, R-Missouri
Washington Office:
274 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-2503
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
308 E. High, #202
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Ron Wyden, D-Oregon
Washington Office:
516 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3703
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
700 NE Multnomah, #450
Portland, OR 97232
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Trent Lott, R-Mississippi
Washington Office:
487 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-2403
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
245 E. Capitol St., #226
Jackson, MS 39201
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Richard Durbin, D-Illinois
Washington Office:
332 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1304
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
230 S. Dearborn St., 38th Floor
Chicago, IL 60604
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Olympia Snowe, R-Maine
Washington Office:
154 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1903
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
Three Canal Plaza, #601
Portland, ME 04112
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Evan Bayh, D-Indiana
Washington Office:
463 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1404
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
1650 Market Tower, 10 W. Market St.
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska
Washington Office:
248 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-2705
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
11301 Davenport St., Ste. 2
Omaha, NE 68154
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

John Edwards, D-North Carolina
Washington Office:
225 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3306
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
300 Fayetteville St. Mall, Ste. 301
Raleigh, NC 27601
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia
Washington Office:
416 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1005
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
100 Galleria, Ste. 1340
Atlanta, GA 30339
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Barbara Mikulski, D-Maryland
Washington Office:
709 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-2003
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
1629 Thames St., #400
Baltimore, MD 21231
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

John Warner, R-Virginia
Washington Office:
225 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4601
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Main District Office:
5309 Commonwealth Centre Parkway
Midlothian, VA 23112-
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

[redqueen]

25. Thanks!

Just write one letter and cc: every one of them!

:yourock:

[redqueen]

26. Oh yeah... and a

:kick:

[wicket]

29. KICK!

[redqueen]

30. .

[redqueen]

31. ....

[redqueen]

32. KICK

:kick:

[redqueen]

33. One last kick

:kick: