Senator Byrd 3/3/3 Manipulation of War Intelligence

[starmaker]

March 03, 2004



America Needs a Truly Independent Commission to Investigate Manipulation of War Intelligence

On February 6, the President announced the creation of his own commission to investigate our intelligence agencies to find out, in the words of Dr. David Kay, why "we were almost all wrong" about the Administration's pre-war claims of huge Iraqi stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.

I was born at night, but not last night.Ê All of America knows that the White House is in a dispute with the September 11 Commission over intelligence reports that were read by the President: the Commission wants them, and the White House won't give them up. The Executive Order drafted by the President to create an intelligence commission makes sure that his own commission will never see documents that the President does not want them to see.



The Administration's case for war in Iraq appears to have been built upon cherry-picked intelligence, prodded and massaged to hype the American people into going along with a war of choice.Ê The President's so-called independent commission would allow the White House to do the exact same number on the commission's report as it did on pre-war intelligence analysis: pick out only the parts that it wants the public to see, and bury the rest.Ê It is bitter irony that a report on whether the Administration covered up evidence that contradicted a rush to war might itself be covered up under the terms of the President's Executive Order.

http://byrd.senate.gov/byrd_speeches/byrd_speeches_2004_march/byrd_speeches_2004_march_list/byrd_speeches_2004_march_list_0.html