Holy crap. Kerry is ON FIRE today

[WilliamPitt]

For Immediate Release
July 14, 2004


WHAT DID HE KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT?
Bush Fights the Release of More Potential Damaging Information

"The White House's refusal to release this one-page summary stands in
the way of getting to the bottom of our intelligence failures, and
weakens our ability to fight the war on terror. There is serious need
for change and reform, but before we do that we have to have
accountability from this administration.

"In stark contrast to this administration, today we saw Prime Minister
Tony Blair take responsibility for intelligence failures related to the
Iraq war. We know where the buck stops in London. We don't know where
the buck stops in Washington."
-- Senator Richard Durbin, 7/14/04,
Conference Call with Reporters

Today, the New York Times reports that the Bush Administration is
fighting the release of a widely disseminated one-page summary about
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs. The document is
particularly important given that Bush and his National Security Adviser
Condoleezza Rice did not read the entire 90-page National Intelligence
Estimate report presented to them prior to the war.

BUSH REFUSES TO RELEASE ONE-PAGE SUMMARY OF PRE-WAR IRAQ CLAIMS

White House Fights Release of One-Page Summary of NIE. The New York
Times reports today, "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."


BUSH AND RICE NEVER READ THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE

Bush and Rice Did Not Read the NIE. A senior administration official who
briefed reporters in July 2003 said neither Bush nor national security
adviser Condoleezza Rice read the NIE in its entirety. "They did not
read footnotes in a 90-page document," said the official, referring to
the "Annex" that contained the State Department's dissent. The official
conducting the briefing rejected reporters' entreaties to allow his name
to be used, arguing that it was his standard procedure for such sessions
to be conducted anonymously.

Rice Didn't Read CIA Memo Warning of Dubious Intelligence In Bush State
of the Union. When asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" whether she read a
memo from the CIA which had debunked the Niger/yellowcake claim, Rice
responded, "I don't remember the memo. It came after it had been taken
out of the speech, and so it's quite possible that I didn't." "Meet The Press," 9/28/03]

Bush Was Kept In The Dark About False Niger Claim. "The official said
Bush was 'briefed' on the NIE's contents, but 'I don't think he sat down
over a long weekend and read every word of it.' Asked whether Bush was
aware the State Department called the Africa-uranium claim 'highly
dubious,' the official, who coordinated Bush's State of the Union
address, said: 'He did not know that.'"
Bush Is "Not a Fact-Checker." "'The president was comfortable at the
time, based on the information that was provided in his speech,' the
official said of the decision to use it in the address to Congress. 'The
president of the United States is not a fact-checker.'" Post, 7/19/03]

BUSH INGNORED WARNING ON IMMINENT AL QAEDA ATTACK PRIOR TO 9-11

Bush Fought Release of PDBs. The Washington Post reported in February
2003 that the 9-11 Commission was threatening a legal showdown with the
White House. The White House placed such severe limitations on the
release of materials forcing "at least three Democratic members of the
bipartisan panel vote in favor of issuing a subpoena to the White
House for the documents, known as the President's Daily Brief (PDB)."


August '01 PDB Warned Of An Imminent Al Qaeda Attack Inside the US. Bush
received a Presidential Daily Briefing on August 6, 2001, entitled, "Bin
Laden Determined to Attack in US." However, Bush did not hold a cabinet
meeting on terrorism until September 4, even though his counterterrorism
chief Richard Clarke had requested one in January 2001. Clarke believes
that Bush "ignored" the threat of terrorism. Richard Clarke, Against All Enemies, pp. 231-237; CBS "60 Minutes,"
3/21/04]

[eleonora]

1. -sigh- nothing new here unfortunately

[toddzilla]

2. none of these are kerry quotes?

it's good info, but i don't see how it makes kerry "on fire"

[WilliamPitt]

3. It's a Kerry press release

Ergo, it is a campaign statement.

[wadestock]

28. And William....

This such focusing on issues....and away from personal abuse tactics (which is all they have left) is going to bring the house down at the convention....and the debates.....

[Terran]

17. Because it states things clearly that very few people,

except DU'ers, have been willing to say, and the rest of the country doesn't even know about it. This shouldn't surprise us, because we all knew Bush wanted to attack Iraq well before the issue even gained public prominence. What's surprising is that Kerry is USING this against Bush. It shows both judiciousness and bravery, IMO.

[kentuck]

4. He took us to war and didn't even read the fucking memo !

And now refuses to give the one-page summary to the people's representatives?? Can you say D-I-C-T-A-T-O-R ?

[papau]

5. link to press release below

Bush Fights the Release of More Potentially Damaging Information

Today, the New York Times reports that the Bush Administration is fighting the release of a widely disseminated one-page summary about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programs. The document is particularly important given that Bush and his National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice did not read the entire 90-page National Intelligence Estimate report presented to them prior to the war.

“The White House’s refusal to release this one-page summary stands in the way of getting to the bottom of our intelligence failures, and weakens our ability to fight the war on terror. There is serious need for change and reform, but before we do that we have to have accountability from this administration.

“In stark contrast to this administration, today we saw Prime Minister Tony Blair take responsibility for intelligence failures related to the Iraq war. We know where the buck stops in London. We don’t know where the buck stops in Washington.” -- Senator Richard Durbin, 7/14/04, Conference Call with Reporters

Continue reading this entry... http://blog.johnkerry.com/dbunker/archives/002123.html#more

[merh]

13. Yes, bomb 'em, I'll read the memo tomorrow while I am on

the john. <sacasam and sadness>

[Literate Tar Heel]

6. great that Kerry's "on fire"

but all I've seen on TV today are stupid puff pieces about the Bush twins, clips of Bush on his "bus blitz" trashing Kerry, and news anchors falling all over Mike Ditka ... the problem is nobody reads these press releases except those of us who already know this stuff ... at some point Kerry has to reach some of the voters who care enough to watch news for soundbites but not enough to actually get on the internet and find out the truth behind them ... I guess that's a little difficult when the media powers-that-be are all cheerleading for Bush though

[sangh0]

8. That's why it's up to YOU!!

If the media won't help disseminate the message, then who is going to do it if you don't?

[Literate Tar Heel]

11. if I could stand on my porch

and talk and reach 5 million viewers, I would ... and I'd bring visual aids and all sorts of things ... I get what you're saying though and when I come across people who haven't considered these things, I do challenge them and try to educate them with some facts, but it would be much easier if the mass media weren't constantly preaching the opposite to millions at a time, ya know?

[sangh0]

33. Agreed, much easier

but you know as well as I what we can expect from them. It's up to us. Our "leaders" have abandoned us

[asjr]

15. Your response is the absolute bottom line. When the media is

complicit with the WH it leaves us with word of mouth to let the masses know what is really happening. Most of the media is traitorous to the whole country. I can't help but think money is making its way into many, many reporters pockets.

[buycitgo]

23. the POINT is that Kerry or Edwards are the ones

who have to read some of these points

that's the only way the media will bother to cover

am I wrong here?

[sangh0]

34. No, you're not wrong

You are absolutely right. But my point is we can't sit idly by and count on others to do the right thing.

[molly]

7. Kerry is MENTALLY always on fire!

many here just can't relate. :shrug:

[Forkboy]

10. That's why we have you

to show us the error of our ways.

[RichM]

12. Oh, bullshit.

What are you whining about, exactly? That DU isn't sufficiently full of Kerry cheerleaders? :eyes:

If genuine Kerry enthusiasm is somewhat lacking, it's because he stinks, as a candidate. He can't even say "The war is wrong" - an elementary truth that tens of millions of people are aware of, including a majority of probable Democratic voters.

[Kanary]

20. And, those "tens of millions" are *waiting* for him to say just that!

and waiting, and waiting, and waiting.....

Yet, if K loses, we'll hear over and over how everything else is to blame.

:shrug:

Kanary

[trumad]

21. If "probable Democratic voters" don't vote for Kerry

then their fucking idiots!

[Forkboy]

22. Mr Diplomacy in action

:)

[buycitgo]

24. trumad is right

I don't have much truck with Kerry, and less, the more I hear him, BUT, and it's a huge, gigantic one, there's absolutely no question of not voting for him, at least in swing states.

I don't think there's any question that a strong third party is necessary to restore democracy here, but this is NOT the election.

course the question obviously arises: WHEN will it be?

if we have the time, perched on the small ledge a Kerry election provides (ledge courtesy of Howard Zinn on Majority Report), maybe we WILL eventually have some populist representation, instead of the corporate rule under which we suffer today

[Forkboy]

37. I agree with you

[trumad]

29. Ahhh you know me...

It's beyond my comprehension how anyone who leans to the left or for that matter is in the middle, would not vote against Bush.

[molly]

30. I don't whine - DU should be full of Kerry cheerleaders

what other choice do we have? I'm talking about a LOGICAL - not a theoretical childish Nader choice. :eyes:

Are you telling us that you will be tossing your vote?

[redqueen]

9. Two things:

re: Blair/Uranium from Africa -- Blair & MI6 are standing by their claim that there was an atttempt by Iraq to purchase uranium from Africa. NOT from Niger. No details other than this that I'm aware of, but they're standing by the claim.

re: Intelligence -- Blair proudly stated that there were no lies or exaggerations in their dossier. We can't say that. "Joe" Centrifuge provided false information -- outright LIES -- to Congress (deliberately falsified data, including rotor testing of the aluminum tubes).

Shame shame shame.

[Shakespeare]

14. HE COULDN'T READ 90 FUCKING PAGES?

Gee, it's not like this report was for anyting important--only whether we initiated a goddamn WAR!

Oh dear lord. Save us from this craven lowlife scumbag.

[kayell]

18. I'm sadly not surprised that * didn't read the report,

The boy-king seems to make a proud point of always knowing what is best without having to do any of the intellectual stuff like reading. But it is pretty horrifying that his PhD advisor (part of that great experienced staff he was surrounding himself with) never bothered to read it so she could provide * with a nice concise analysis.

After all that was the deal they offered the voters - a nice, ranching, Texan he-man, not so bright, but with the common touch and integrity, guided by a well seasoned group of mature, trustworthy and knowledgeable experts.....you say what?....oh....oh.....oh......not even a Texan huh, criminals huh....oh well

I guess when your on a chatting basis with God you don't have to read the report.

[buycitgo]

25. you KNOW he's not going to read that.....Condi didn't either,

nor, apparently did anyone else close enough to her to warn her what was in the footnotes

sure

right

remember, it makes no sense to believe ANYthing they say

they knew perfectly well the state of Saddam's threat, army, etc.

why do you think Rumsfeld insisted on a small invasion force?

they KNEW what to expect; they just didn't want to believe how hard it would be to maintain the "peace" afterward

[kayell]

19. How many Iraqi and American lives is that per page?

[Generator]

27. C'mon we all know there is no need to bother with some little intel memo

when you've already decided who's EVIL and must be punished because Jaysus is on your side, and you're the Emperor!

Reading is totally optional, like duh!

As for Condi, well, let's just say, H E double hockeysticks has a place reserved for her. She is the most incompetent excuse for a woman in office-she gives all of us women a bad name. Cause all she is is a yesiree, I love you, Mr. President licking fool.

[yellowcanine]

32. Maybe they should have put it in comic book form - Captain Marvel style.

He really is a lazy pos.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

16. Hmmmmmmmm............

by now we know there really isn't any proprietary information in these reports, so why the fight to prevent release? To paraphrase the Bard, "methinks thou dost protest too much, Mr. Bush."

[DoYouEverWonder]

26. The decision to go to war

must be the gravest decision that a man can make. Many times W told us that the decision was his and his alone. But despite the gravity of this most important decision in his life, Bu$h couldn't even be bothered to do his homework.

Once again, Bu$h is guilty of dereliction of duty and 1000's of people have paid for his dereliction with their lives.

Now tell me again, Bu$h shouldn't be compared to Hitler? Maybe not, it seems Hitler was an amateur in comparison.

[ElementaryPenguin]

31. Hopefully, this the beginning of Kerry/Edward's "kick" at the end!!

Kerry certainly peaked at just the right moment for the primaries - and I've been praying he was going to do the same against Bushler! Looks like he is! Have you taken an undecided or Repuke friend to
F9-11 yet?

[bobbyboucher]

35. "sat down over a long week-end and read it"?

"but I don't think he sat down over a long weekend and read every word of it".

IT'S 90 FUCKING PAGES!!!!!!!!!!

You mean to tell me, that.... never mind.

[kerrywins]

36. he's always great

[Misunderestimator]

38. Best Presidential Campaign Office Ever

and I'll say it again... MARY BETH CAHILL

ROCKS