Uh-Oh... Bush lied to Congress. Fitzgerald asked to expand inquiry.

[mikelewis]

I haven't seen this posted yet but Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald has been asked by 40 Congressmen to expand his investigation into the Plame leak to include a a new charge of lying to Congress "to thwart Congressional and U.N. efforts to delay the start of the war."

"President Bush made two uranium claims, one in his State of the Union Address to Congress and another in a report that he submitted to Congress concerning Iraq, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made three other uranium claims. We request that you investigate whether such claims violated two criminal statutes, 18 U.S.C., Sec. 1001 and 18 U.S.C., Sec. 371, that prohibit making false and fraudulent statements to Congress and obstructing the functions of Congress."

"The criminal statute, 18 U.S.C., Sec. 371, prohibits conspiring to defraud the United States and is applicable since the Supreme Court in the case of Hammerschmidt v. United States, 265 U.S. 182, 188 (1924) held that to “conspire to defraud the United States means primarily to cheat the government out of property or money, but it also means to interfere with or obstruct one of its lawful governmental functions by deceit, craft or trickery, or at least by means that are dishonest.” Senior Administration officials arguably violated Section 371 because their uranium claims had the effect of obstructing or interfering with the function of Congress to reconsider its war resolution and to allow further time for U.N. weapons inspections. If the whole truth had been told, Congress may well have withdrawn the war resolution or delayed the start of the war to allow further U.N. weapons inspections, which would have shown what we now know; that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and had not sought the uranium. However, it should be noted that Section 371 does not require proof that the conspiracy was successful."
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ny22_hinchey/morenews/091505fitzgeraldletter.html


I guess the question remains, is this considered a high crime and misdemeanor? Is this worse than a stained dress and a stinky cigar? Probably not to Tom Delay but maybe the American people might see it differently.

[hardrainfallin]

1. Jeez. You just have to hope that Fitzgerald watches tv and reads the

papers as well!

I don't see how ANYONE with a shred of integrity who has witnessed the ongoing spectacle of the FEMA disaster cannot be doing everything in his power to take these sobs OUT.

Fitzgerald is in a unique position to do some serious "clean-up" work here.

[Botany]

2. do not tease me!

:bounce:

[Time for change]

3. Sounds like a high crime to me

What do you think Fitzgerald's reaction to this will be?

[JAbuchan08]

4. If Fitz puts just one of these f-ers away I'm sending him a pair of

gold-plated cuffs.

Okay, I can't afford it, but damn I would really like to.

[sepia_steel]

7. We'll help you afford it. :) eom

[txindy]

13. Absolutely!

[JAbuchan08]

24. Don't let me forget.

how would I set up a fund? I'll put the first dollar in the pot, but that's it for know.

[Booster]

27. Let's use the fund to buy him a Medal of Freedom, since you

apparently have to pay a great price, like your soul, for one of the damn things.

[JAbuchan08]

30. You know, I don't think they actually sell those things to the general pub

as you said one has to sell one's soul and I'm currently using mine for collateral on something else - don't ask.

[BlueStateBlue]

107. Betcha we could find one on ebay! n/t

[kitkat65]

85. I was just thinking that too.

A citizen-sponsored Medal of Honor and Achievement given to him by us. The Medal of Freedom doesn't seem to be worth much these days anyway.

[jrthin]

19. Heck, we'll take up a

collect and buy that man gold cuffs

[Toots]

47. gold-PLATED cuffs

gafaw gafaw ...ten bucks will by two pair....:rofl:

[SlowDownFast]

71. Yep. SOLID gold cuffs is what everyone means, methinks.

[FreedomAngel82]

77. If he impeaches Bush and the whole gang

I would have his baby. :blush: (He is cute)

[Trevelyan]

103. What Happened to Sen. Kerry Letter Supporting Rep. Conyers Letter for

Resolution of Inquiry with 10 signatures of US Senators among them Sen. Kennedy's? Disappeared from http://www.AfterDowningStreet.org which said that the Resolution which is the beginning of Impeachment process failed by 1 vote this past week.

Rep. Conyers said several Reps. backed out of their co-sponsorship on his blog. I hope my Rep. Van Hollen was not one of them, he was one of the first to sign Rep. Conyers letter.

After Downing Street had said there was a difference between signing the letter and co-sponsoring and I sent a letter to my Rep and 2 Senators from the ADS site.

Does anyone know the names of those who backed out? ONE VOTE MORE AND THE BEGINNINGS OF THE IMPEACHMENT PROCESS WOULD HAVE BEGUN LAST WEEK!!!

[blue state liberal]

105. The Congressmen who backed out of the Resolution of Inquiry

whose names I do not know -- have, in my opinion, received gigantic payoffs from the Bushistas. Or maybe threats. I think it's the payola though

[Skip Intro]

5. Is "high crime and misdemeanor" a question for FItzgerlad, or Congress?

I mean, if Fitz proved conspiracy, proved a crime (beyond his original mandate), criminal prosecution wouldn't be bound by the high crimes parameters, would it? That governs impeachment, doesn't it? A crime is a crime, and justice should be served, whether impeachable or not, right? If the POTUS commited a crime (I can't believe I'm saying "if"), that crime carries a relative punishment. Justice must be done. No one is above the law.

I would so LOVE to see justice be done. Sooo many have died for their fucking lies. It continues. I would love to see it finally come back on them. I would love to see them have to answer for their crimes.

Impeachment or resignation by public outrage. I don't care. Out of office is just the begining. They don't get to just walk away.

Prosecute. Sentence. Prison.

[FreedomAngel82]

78. What it sounds like to me

is they are asking Fitzgerald to investigate this as well. Sure is a busy guy! Of course I'm not law student or anything and am only going by what I read. :shrug:

[Trevelyan]

100. Keep up with The Resolution of Inquiry sponsored by Rep. Barbara Lee

http://www.AfterDowningStreet.org has info on DSM, Plame outing, Blair Impeachment and much more.

Please keep visiting and supporting.

Thank you.

[mzteris]

6. wooooohooooo

Will this have any traction?

Please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please PLEASE let Fitzgerald do this!!

I promise I'll be really really really REALLY O8) - if they can take these b@st@rds down! (Ooops, sorry 'bout that - I mean people)

[FogerRox]

11. gotta kick

[Trevelyan]

104. If you want to be real good, write to your Representatives and asked them

if they co-sponsored Rep. Lee's Resolution of Inquiry, the beginnings of impeachment process that failed last week because of one vote according to http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

Write on http://www.Congress.org and ask if they did not sponsor, why not esp. after the Katrina mass murder, the armed Blackwater mercenaries and Mexican armies illegally patrolling NOLA streets and if they are not on Maurice Hinchey's letter, why not.

Congress.org will publish your letter and let others know what your Congresspersons are or are not doing to take responsiblity to rid the American citizens of this war on America by Bushco and PNAC.

~~~~~`
FEMA blocks help/aid/medicine
Sat, 2005-09-17 18:24.
Nightline has been stepping up with reports on the bushco machinations in the Gulf states. Is Ted Koeppel getting ready to retire? Perhaps like Sen. Kennedy and Sen. Byrd he cannot be hurt by speaking the truth ??

Amy Goodman will have President Hugo Chavez on DemocracyNow.org. on Monday 9/19/05 This program is broadcast on a wide variety of sources including PacificaRadio.org; FreeSpeechTelevision,& (Radio?)
Her program is also webcast at DemocracyNow.org. In addition, they have archives. The progressive and alternative press is growing.

Also Rhandi Rhodes on Air America read a list of all the help, aid, medicine, water, food, medical care that was blocked by FEMA. Absolutely astounding to realize that FEMA not only did not respond on time but actually prevented many other people from helping our fellow citizens. They blocked aid from other countries and AID from FELLOW AMERICANS as well. Is this true and if so Why?

Did bushrove take two or three days to let the chaos build (like in Iraq) while figuring out how to spin and exploit Katrina to their best advantage? Seems like nothing is too fantastic to contemplate. They are not inept. That is a cover.
Thank you so much for this website

[rodeodance]

8. I see here how they argue how this is related to the Plame case.

"The...matters are clearly related to your current investigation," Hinchey and his colleagues wrote to Fitzgerald. "Ambassador Wilson's op-ed article focused on the uranium claim made in the 2003 State of the Union Address and he concluded that 'intelligence related to Iraq’s nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.' You are investigating whether any laws were violated when Administration officials - in order to discredit Wilson’s claim and/or to retaliate against him - leaked to the press the fact that his wife was a CIA agent. As set forth in this letter, Wilson’s original charge that the Administration "twisted" the evidence concerns matters that are just as criminal as the Administration’s attempts to discredit Wilson and his charge by revealing the identity of Mrs. Wilson as a CIA operative."

Hinchey said, "Mr. Fitzgerald's investigation holds grave implications for the safety of our C.I.A. operatives, the freedom of our press, and the accountability of our current executive branch leadership. The laws that high-level members of the Bush Administration may very well have violated are of a very serious nature on their own. However, when you take into account that these laws may have been broken in order to commence a major war, it becomes clear that action must be taken to punish those who misled the Congress and the American people. We have American men and women dying in Iraq on a daily basis because people in this Administration fabricated or manipulated intelligence on uranium that was used as a key reason for justifying the war. This is wholly unacceptable and I believe that Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald has the authority and the responsibility to investigate these possible criminal violations.".......

[FreedomAngel82]

79. It has everything to do with it

Remember why they outed Plame/Wilson in the first place. It's very well connected. He should investigate it because then it can help the case as well. And we all know that Bush lied to Congress.

[Trevelyan]

101. Blackwater mercenaries in NOLA meant to intimidate Fitzgerald and everyone

who might bring the criminal bush regime down. email http://www.Congress.org and ask you Reps why illegally armed mercenaries are patrolling the streets in NOLA.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20050916&articleId=960

~~~
The Second American Revolution
The deployment of mercenaries in New Orleans is an act of war against the American people

by Mike Whitney

September 16, 2005
Uruknet

(Image: Blackwater USA Training Center, "Where Professionals Train," in North Carolina. Link.)

The deployment of mercenaries onto the streets of New Orleans is an act of war against the American people. It has been accompanied by the equally provocative order to strip the remaining survivors of their "legally registered firearms", thus depriving them of the 2nd amendment rights.

Who appointed Bush as God?

The safety and security of the city's people is now in the hands of armed militias who have no allegiance to the Constitution and whose relationship to the government is uncertain. These hired goons are not required to conform to "The Military Code of Justice" or to any legal and moral restrictions governing the conduct of military personnel.

There is no scenario, neither natural disaster nor terrorist attack, which justifies the use of paid killers on the streets of America's cities.

None!

(more on this site with photo)

[sepia_steel]

9. Oh god I hope it sticks.

PLEASE! JUSTICE PLEASE!

[rodeodance]

10. nominated

[Im with Rosey]

12. Will he do it?

I am not sure what the rules and regs are about something like this, just because he is asked to do an investigation does that mean he will, can, is bound to do?

[rodeodance]

14. here is the list of the 30 congressman. Tammy Baldwin my rep. is on!

The 40 other House members who signed Hinchey's letter to Fitzgerald are: Congressmen Neil Abercrombie (HI-01), Tammy Baldwin (WI-02), Xavier Becerra (CA-31), Wm. Lacy Clay (MO-01), John Conyers, Jr. (MI-14), Sam Farr (CA-17), Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07), Luis V. Gutierrez (IL-04), Michael M. Honda (CA-15), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL-02), Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (MI-13), Dennis J. Kucinich (OH-10), Barbara Lee (CA-09), Jim McDermott (WA-07) James P. McGovern (MA-03), Cynthia McKinney (GA-04), Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-14), Doris Matsui (CA-05), George Miller (CA-07), James P. Moran (VA-08), Jerrold Nadler (NY-08), Richard E. Neal (MA-02), Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06), Donald M. Payne (NJ-10), Charles B. Rangel (NY-15), Martin Olav Sabo (MN-05), Bernard Sanders (VT-AL), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), José E. Serrano (NY-16), Louise Slaughter (NY-28), Hilda L. Solis (CA-32), Fortney Pete Stark (CA-13), Edolphus Towns (NY-10) Maxine Waters (CA-35), Lynn Woolsey (CA-06), David Wu (OR-01), and Albert R. Wynn (MD-04) (plus one unrecognizable signature).

[rodeodance]

15. kick

[crispini]

16. LOL! Who was the unrecognizable signature!?

That's funny.

[fooj]

31. I love my Congressman! Sam Farr (CA-17) is the best!

He's been with us every step of the way. Woo hoo!

Peace.

[frictionlessO]

32. Wow look at all the New Yorkers! So proud to call this state my home.

I'll be sending on thanks to each and every one of them this weekend.

[stlsaxman]

72. Thanks! I was about to ask who the others were...

woo hoo!

on edit: GO LACY CLAY!!!!! :applause:

(we were in the same class in school!)

[PinkyisBlue]

91. Any Republicans on this list?

It would be meaningful if this was a bipartisan show of support, although I seriously doubt a Republican would sign on. Can you imagine the pressure from the right a Republican who signed this would get (although he/she would also get much accolades from those on the left and more moderate Republicans).

[savemefromdumbya]

95. instant death I would say

However, if Republicans are true to the people then they would vote for this. No doubt they are protecting themselves and families from the hit squad?

[blue state liberal]

106. I am extremely disappointed to see that my "liberal" representative

is not one of those who signed Hinchey's letter to Fitzgerald and I plan to ask him why. He is Barney Frank. Another representative who is liberal and one who was quite involved with having paper trails with the voting machines in Florida did not sign Hinchey's letter. He is Robert Wexler and I am also disappointed in him.

[nickinSTL]

109. my Rep's there

Considering the preponderance of Repubs in power in MO, it's great to see my Rep on there. (Clay of Missouri)

[DemReadingDU]

17. also a link on DailyKos

http://dailykos.com/story/2005/9/15/171746/409

[Imagevision]

18. One begins to lose track of all lies & deceptons from Bush Administration

Bush has lied and deceived us so much since taking office I'm perplexed, anyone have a list?

[Beam Me Up]

51. The entire administration is a deception from day one.

And that is not a joke but a tragedy that could see the death of this county.

[FreedomAngel82]

80. I lost a list a long time ago

:crazy:

[SharonRB]

20. Woo hoo

They're going down (I hope!).

[Elwood P Dowd]

21. Fitz won't do it. He prefers living to dying.

<eom>

[TheStates]

39. Fitz G is well protected........He's already been attacked twice...

He can do whatever he wants....and so can his team, since they have full authority and arms.

[FreedomAngel82]

81. I think so too

I remember a DUer once told how he was threatned with his mail and had to start getting it at work for protection. I also have read on another forum (Libertyforum) that he isn't married and doesn't have any kids so in a way that's good for his protection with dealing with this case especially. We all know what has happened in the past.... If he's stayed a live this long I'm sure he's well protected!

[kma3346]

94. Attacked

Physically or verbally? How?

[Trevelyan]

102. What about protection for Congresspersons who try to impeach bushco?

Everyone knew the fight about stealing Social Security was to begin and "co-incidentally" the House of Reps and Congress' number one expert on Social Security (a Japanese-American name - although some Congressmembers put condolances on their web can't find where I put his name, if anyone has the name, please let me know, this should be as big a scandal as Hunter Thompson's suspicious death as Gannongate story broke online) suddenly died of a "rare blood disease" which purportedly he had been treated for years.

Congressmembers expressed their shock of his death but did not question the timing of the sudden death of the Congress' foremost expert in Social Security law just before bushco's town meetings to destroy Social Security.

If he knew he was so ill for years, why didn't he start training another Congressperson as Social Security expert.

[Gregorian]

22. Does Fitzgerald even have the time to persue?

Not knowing the details, I have heard the grand jury expires in Octorber.

Something tells me payback is just around the corner. Damn it's hard to get excited about a trainwreck.

[hootinholler]

48. He won't have a problem extending the term....

But it will cost him his position as a Federal Prosecutor in (I think) Mi. I can't see Justice re-appointing him there anyway.

-Hoot

[goddess40]

23. It's a nice thought

I wish it would go somewhere but the right will do what ever they have to to kill it.

[bleever]

25. These f***ers are all about gaming the system and hey, guess what?

Gaming the system is actually codified as a federal offense!

"...to interfere with or obstruct one of its lawful governmental functions by deceit, craft or trickery, or at least by means that are dishonest."

[MaryBear]

26. Fitzgerald needs to shine light on the misdeeds.

He doesn't necessarily need to reach a conclusion. He needs to investigate and get these things in the open.

[AmBlue]

28. please oh please oh please oh please oh....

....please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please God

[BamaBecky]

41. ditto...n/t

[Uncle Joe]

70. Taking up where you left off

..please oh please, oh please help us, lord help us, please, oh please, pretty please, please with sugar on it, please with anything you want on it, oh please, oh please, dear God please

[The Backlash Cometh]

29. At least someone is grasping the magnitude and seriousness

of Bush's ineptitude/corruption.

[Wordie]

33. Kick

[snot]

34. Yee-hahhh! nt

[are_we_united_yet]

35. It aint no

blowjob though

[leesa]

89. Well, maybe he found one of those too! Jeff Gannon, you know.

[are_we_united_yet]

98. Ya know...

I forgot about that.

:shrug:

[bvar22]

36. I hope they read DU!

This is good stuff when bush* tries to say that he was mislead!

..."seven months before 9/11, George Tenet testified before Congress that Iraq posed no immediate threat to the United States."

"in a Feb. 12, 2001 interview with the Fox News Channel Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said: “Iraq is probably not a nuclear threat at the present time.”

"...intelligence reports released by the CIA and more than 100 interviews top officials in the Bush administration, such as Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, gave to various Senate and Congressional committees and media outlets prior to 9-11 show that the U.S. never believed Saddam Hussein to be an imminent threat other than to his own people."

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0306/S00211.htm


and this:

" And frankly they (the UN Sanctions) have worked. He (Saddam) has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors." Colin Powell Feb 24, 2001

"But in terms of Saddam Hussein being there, let's remember that his country is divided, in effect. He does not control the northern part of his country. We are able to keep arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt." ---Condoleezza Rice on CNN July 29, 2001

http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/powell-no-wmd.htm


Neglecting Intelligence, Ignoring Warnings
A chronology of how the Bush Administration repeatedly and deliberately refused to listen to intelligence agencies that said its case for war was weak
January 28, 2004
Updated January 29, 2004

Former weapons inspector David Kay now says Iraq probably did not have WMD before the war, a major blow to the Bush Administration which used the WMD argument as the rationale for war. Unfortunately, Kay and the Administration are now attempting to shift the blame for misleading America onto the intelligence community. But a review of the facts shows the intelligence community repeatedly warned the Bush Administration about the weakness of its case, but was circumvented, overruled, and ignored. The following is year-by-year timeline of those warnings.

2001: WH Admits Iraq Contained; Creates Agency to Circumvent Intel Agencies
In 2001 and before, intelligence agencies noted that Saddam Hussein was effectively contained after the Gulf War. In fact, former weapons inspector David Kay now admits that the previous policy of containment – including the 1998 bombing of Iraq – destroyed any remaining infrastructure of potential WMD programs.

OCTOBER 8, 1997 – IAEA SAYS IRAQ FREE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS:
"As reported in detail in the progress report dated 8 October 1997…and based on all credible information available to date, the IAEA's verification activities in Iraq, have resulted in the evolution of a technically coherent picture of Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme. These verification activities have revealed no indications that Iraq had achieved its programme objective of producing nuclear weapons or that Iraq had produced more than a few grams of weapon-usable nuclear material or had clandestinely acquired such material. Furthermore, there are no indications that there remains in Iraq any physical capability for t he production of weapon-usable nuclear material of any practical significance."

FEBRUARY 23 & 24, 2001 – COLIN POWELL SAYS IRAQ IS CONTAINED:
"I think we ought to declare a success. We have kept him contained, kept him in his box." He added Saddam "is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors" and that "he threatens not the United States."

SEPTEMBER 16, 2001 – CHENEY ACKNOWLEDGES IRAQ IS CONTAINED:
Vice President Dick Cheney said that "Saddam Hussein is bottled up" – a confirmation of the intelligence he had received.

SEPTEMBER 2001 – WHITE HOUSE CREATES OFFICE TO CIRCUMVENT INTEL AGENCIES: The Pentagon creates the Office of Special Plans "in order to find evidence of what Wolfowitz and his boss, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, believed to be true-that Saddam Hussein had close ties to Al Qaeda, and that Iraq had an enormous arsenal of chemical, biological, and possibly even nuclear weapons that threatened the region and, potentially, the United States…The rising influence of the Office of Special Plans was accompanied by a decline in the influence of the C.I.A. and the D.I.A. bringing about a crucial change of direction in the American intelligence community."

The office, hand-picked by the Administration, specifically "cherry-picked intelligence that supported its pre-existing position and ignoring all the rest" while officials deliberately "bypassed the government's customary procedures for vetting intelligence."
2002: Intel Agencies Repeatedly Warn White House of Its Weak WMD Case
Throughout 2002, the CIA, DIA, Department of Energy and United Nations all warned the Bush Administration that its selective use of intelligence was painting a weak WMD case. Those warnings were repeatedly ignored.

JANUARY, 2002 – TENET DOES NOT MENTION IRAQ IN NUCLEAR THREAT REPORT:
"In CIA Director George Tenet's January 2002 review of global weapons-technology proliferation, he did not even mention a nuclear threat from Iraq, though he did warn of one from North Korea."

FEBRUARY 6, 2002 – CIA SAYS IRAQ HAS NOT PROVIDED WMD TO TERRORISTS:
"The Central Intelligence Agency has no evidence that Iraq has engaged in terrorist operations against the United States in nearly a decade, and the agency is also convinced that President Saddam Hussein has not provided chemical or biological weapons to Al Qaeda or related terrorist groups, according to several American intelligence officials."

APRIL 15, 2002 – WOLFOWITZ ANGERED AT CIA FOR NOT UNDERMINING U.N. REPORT:
After receiving a CIA report that concluded that Hans Blix had conducted inspections of Iraq's declared nuclear power plants "fully within the parameters he could operate" when Blix was head of the international agency responsible for these inspections prior to the Gulf War, a report indicated that "Wolfowitz ‘hit the ceiling’ because the CIA failed to provide sufficient ammunition to undermine Blix and, by association, the new U.N. weapons inspection program."

SUMMER, 2002 – CIA WARNINGS TO WHITE HOUSE EXPOSED:
"In the late summer of 2002, Sen. Graham had requested from Tenet an analysis of the Iraqi threat. According to knowledgeable sources, he received a 25-page classified response reflecting the balanced view that had prevailed earlier among the intelligence agencies--noting, for example, that evidence of an Iraqi nuclear program or a link to Al Qaeda was inconclusive. Early that September, the committee also received the DIA's classified analysis, which reflected the same cautious assessments. But committee members became worried when, midway through the month, they received a new CIA analysis of the threat that highlighted the Bush administration's claims and consigned skepticism to footnotes."

SEPTEMBER, 2002 – DIA TELLS WHITE HOUSE NO EVIDENCE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS: "An unclassified excerpt of a 2002 Defense Intelligence Agency study on Iraq's chemical warfare program in which it stated that there is ‘no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons, or where Iraq has - or will - establish its chemical warfare agent production facilities.’" The report also said, "A substantial amount of Iraq's chemical warfare agents, precursors, munitions, and production equipment were destroyed between 1991 and 1998 as a result of Operation Desert Storm and UNSCOM (United Nations Special Commission) actions."

SEPTEMBER 20, 2002 – DEPT. OF ENERGY TELLS WHITE HOUSE OF NUKE DOUBTS:
"Doubts about the quality of some of the evidence that the United States is using to make its case that Iraq is trying to build a nuclear bomb emerged Thursday. While National Security Adviser Condi Rice stated on 9/8 that imported aluminum tubes ‘are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs, centrifuge programs’ a growing number of experts say that the administration has not presented convincing evidence that the tubes were intended for use in uranium enrichment rather than for artillery rocket tubes or other uses. Former U.N. weapons inspector David Albright said he found significant disagreement among scientists within the Department of Energy and other agencies about the certainty of the evidence."

OCTOBER 2002 – CIA DIRECTLY WARNS WHITE HOUSE:
"The CIA sent two memos to the White House in October voicing strong doubts about a claim President Bush made three months later in the State of the Union address that Iraq was trying to buy nuclear materials in Africa."

OCTOBER 2002 — STATE DEPT. WARNS WHITE HOUSE ON NUKE CHARGES:
The State Department’s Intelligence and Research Department dissented from the conclusion in the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq’s WMD capabilities that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. "The activities we have detected do not ... add up to a compelling case that Iraq is currently pursuing what INR would consider to be an integrated and comprehensive approach to acquiring nuclear weapons." INR accepted the judgment by Energy Department technical experts that aluminum tubes Iraq was seeking to acquire, which was the central basis for the conclusion that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program, were ill-suited to build centrifuges for enriching uranium.

OCTOBER 2002 – AIR FORCE WARNS WHITE HOUSE:
"The government organization most knowledgeable about the United States' UAV program -- the Air Force's National Air and Space Intelligence Center -- had sharply disputed the notion that Iraq's UAVs were being designed as attack weapons" – a WMD claim President Bush used in his October 7 speech on Iraqi WMD, just three days before the congressional vote authorizing the president to use force.

2003: WH Pressures Intel Agencies to Conform; Ignores More Warnings
Instead of listening to the repeated warnings from the intelligence community, intelligence officials say the White House instead pressured them to conform their reports to fit a pre-determined policy. Meanwhile, more evidence from international institutions poured in that the White House’s claims were not well-grounded.

LATE 2002-EARLY 2003 – CHENEY PRESSURES CIA TO CHANGE INTELLIGENCE: "Vice President Dick Cheney's repeated trips to CIA headquarters in the run-up to the war for unusual, face-to-face sessions with intelligence analysts poring over Iraqi data. The pressure on the intelligence community to document the administration's claims that the Iraqi regime had ties to al-Qaida and was pursuing a nuclear weapons capacity was ‘unremitting,’ said former CIA counterterrorism chief Vince Cannistraro, echoing several other intelligence veterans interviewed." Additionally, CIA officials "charged that the hard-liners in the Defense Department and vice president's office had 'pressured' agency analysts to paint a dire picture of Saddam's capabilities and intentions."

JANUARY, 2003 – STATE DEPT. INTEL BUREAU REITERATE WARNING TO POWELL: "The Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), the State Department's in-house analysis unit, and nuclear experts at the Department of Energy are understood to have explicitly warned Secretary of State Colin Powell during the preparation of his speech that the evidence was questionable. The Bureau reiterated to Mr. Powell during the preparation of his February speech that its analysts were not persuaded that the aluminum tubes the Administration was citing could be used in centrifuges to enrich uranium."

FEBRUARY 14, 2003 – UN WARNS WHITE HOUSE THAT NO WMD HAVE BEEN FOUND: "In their third progress report since U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 was passed in November, inspectors told the council they had not found any weapons of mass destruction." Weapons inspector Hans Blix told the U.N. Security Council they had been unable to find any WMD in Iraq and that more time was needed for inspections.

FEBRUARY 15, 2003 – IAEA WARNS WHITE HOUSE NO NUCLEAR EVIDENCE: The head of the IAEA told the U.N. in February that "We have to date found no evidence of ongoing prohibited nuclear or nuclear-related activities in Iraq." The IAEA examined "2,000 pages of documents seized Jan. 16 from an Iraqi scientist's home -- evidence, the Americans said, that the Iraqi regime was hiding government documents in private homes. The documents, including some marked classified, appear to be the scientist's personal files." However, "the documents, which contained information about the use of laser technology to enrich uranium, refer to activities and sites known to the IAEA and do not change the agency's conclusions about Iraq's laser enrichment program."

FEBURARY 24, 2003 – CIA WARNS WHITE HOUSE ‘NO DIRECT EVIDENCE’ OF WMD:
"A CIA report on proliferation released this week says the intelligence community has no ‘direct evidence’ that Iraq has succeeded in reconstituting its biological, chemical, nuclear or long-range missile programs in the two years since U.N. weapons inspectors left and U.S. planes bombed Iraqi facilities. ‘We do not have any direct evidence that Iraq has used the period since Desert Fox to reconstitute its Weapons of Mass Destruction programs,’ said the agency in its semi-annual report on proliferation activities."

MARCH 7, 2003 – IAEA REITERATES TO WHITE HOUSE NO EVIDENCE OF NUKES:
IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei said nuclear experts have found "no indication" that Iraq has tried to import high-strength aluminum tubes or specialized ring magnets for centrifuge enrichment of uranium. For months, American officials had "cited Iraq's importation of these tubes as evidence that Mr. Hussein's scientists have been seeking to develop a nuclear capability." ElBaradei also noted said "the IAEA has concluded, with the concurrence of outside experts, that documents which formed the basis for the of recent uranium transactions between Iraq and Niger are in fact not authentic." When questioned about this on Meet the Press, Vice President Dick Cheney simply said "Mr. ElBaradei is, frankly, wrong."

MAY 30, 2003 – INTEL PROFESSIONALS ADMIT THEY WERE PRESSURED:
"A growing number of U.S. national security professionals are accusing the Bush administration of slanting the facts and hijacking the $30 billion intelligence apparatus to justify its rush to war in Iraq . A key target is a four-person Pentagon team that reviewed material gathered by other intelligence outfits for any missed bits that might have tied Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to banned weapons or terrorist groups. This team, self-mockingly called the Cabal, 'cherry-picked the intelligence stream' in a bid to portray Iraq as an imminent threat, said Patrick Lang, a official at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). The DIA was "exploited and abused and bypassed in the process of making the case for war in Iraq based on the presence of WMD," or weapons of mass destruction, he said. Greg Thielmann, an intelligence official in the State Department, said it appeared to him that intelligence had been shaped 'from the top down.'"

JUNE 6, 2003 – INTELLIGENCE HISTORIAN SAYS INTEL WAS HYPED:
"The CIA bowed to Bush administration pressure to hype the threat of Saddam Hussein's weapons programs ahead of the U.S.-led war in Iraq , a leading national security historian concluded in a detailed study of the spy agency's public pronouncements."

www.americanprogress.org





Republican GREED has now KILLED more Americans than Al Qaeda!

The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

[StellaBlue]

63. Two words:

:yourock:

[berni_mccoy]

37. Wow.

:kick:

[leesa]

90. Jeepers. It's costing alot to feed the Wall Street Pig these days!

[sakabatou]

38. I can't wait till the handcuffs are on

:evilgrin:

[mikelewis]

40. It won't be handcuffs, it'll be resignations and shame but that's about...

all. They won't throw a President in jail no matter what he's done. They'll shame him and ruin his party. That's pretty much the best we can hope for here. But still, it's going to be AWESOME!

[Patsy Stone]

46. I would pay money

for a front row seat.

[DarkTirade]

42. About... freaking... TIME!!!!

Which is worse, lying in a courtroom where the only person affected is you, or lying in front of the congress, where it affects the entire nation.

[StellaBlue]

64. That bumper sticker kicks ass

I want one of those 'Founding Fathers' T-shirts with Geronimo et. al. on it!

And maybe 'My heroes have always killed cowboys.'

[OneTwentyoNine]

43. Bush lied to start the Iraq War?? My god what a Revelation!

Maybe those guys should just come over to DU and get the facts. Hell,they don't even have to believe our rantings,just click on the FUCKING LINKS and read it for themselves.

Well...lets see if ANYTHING comes of this,I'd be surprised.

[coeur_de_lion]

44. Is it possible that Fitzgerald is already looking into this?

There have been little hints over the last year or more about expanding the scope of the investigation. Maybe he has already has all the evidence he needs to prove that * lied.

[SnowGoose]

45. Good point - surely the congresscritters know when the G. Jury expires.

Is it reasonable that they would ask Fitzgerald to expand the investigation into a huge area when he's only got a few weeks left?

It *is* reasonable, however, that he might need some additional support (in the form of a congressional request) to justify the expanded investigation he's already working on - so that people won't be able to say "you were only supposed to be investigating the Plame leak." Remember this guy isn't operating under the expansive rules that Ken Starr used - they expired.

[hootinholler]

49. But, he is operation as a proxy to and with the full authority of

The Attorney General, which in some respects is more powerful than Starr.

-Hoot

[FreedomAngel82]

82. Only he knows

I hope so. Wouldn't it be nice to see Bush leave the White House in shame like Nixon? :popcorn: I would rather see the whole lot of them at the Hague though. *Sigh* But resigning would be just as nice. And then we can have our real president. Either Gore or Kerry.

[PATRICK]

50. Iran Contra memories?

There have been no blanket immunities because no Congressional investigation. Fitzgerald is still in play.

IF the report implicates this president then he is not so free to pardon the evildoers ads his daddy did.

This is not just a prelude to impeachment but a ramping up of ways to protect the Plame report from ending up as Iran Contra part 2. Bush obviously can blow off, shrug off any public outcry in practical implications as the obvious profiteering and desultory photo opping shows. This raises the stakes against a pre-emptive shutdown of the special prosecutor.

it is not just a gutsy move. I think the lawyers told the Dems it is a necessary one for any chance at all of getting justice this time.

And it still is no guarantee of success and not a indication of any guts to get impeachment rolling. That card is hidden or non-existent and so far the Dem leadership has shown such cards, in the past, were in fact non-existent.

A speculation, IMHO.

[Verve]

75. It does make sense that Fitzgerald's team may have nudged Congressional

members to act in this manner. Isn't he known for dotting his i's and crossing his t's? This just makes his case stronger. Especially since it's been rumored that his investigation did take a detour and was already being expanded due to his grand jury findings.

Another reason, these Congressional members could have made their appeal, is because they got word his investigation failed to find anything significant. Therefore, this could be a last ditch effort to tell Fitz to keep looking for criminal activity. I hope this is not the case!

[rateyes]

52. I hope he does expand it..

that would mean an extension on the Grand Jury, which means Judy Miller spends more time in prison....I also hope that Fitz seeks criminal contempt charges against Judy...she WILL be there till she talks then.

[msmcghee]

53. It seems to me this could be . . .

. . the result of someone in the prosecutor's office discretely mentioning to some Congressional Dem's staff person - that if several congressmen expressed an interest in deepening the probe . . . that interesting information might be revealed.

I think Fitz wouldn't do this on his own . . even if his investigation so far had uncovered such information and/or leads.

This way he is responding to a congressional request and can not be so easily accused of witch-hunting.

I think he's on to something important - or maybe it's just wishful thinking. I know my political savvy is not too good - especially compared to some of the more politically astute DU members here. I'd love to hear some more of their opinions on this - like some of those above.

[FreedomAngel82]

83. Ooo good idea

Yes, covering the tracks. I think it's a smart move. This way they can also protect him so he can finish his job. I've always had this gut feeling he was going after something bigger than Rove. I don't know why but it was a nagging feeling in me. I hope it's true though.

[go west young man]

54. This is very good news...

we need to keep the pressure on this admin now more than ever. If Fitzgerald does expand the probe it could finally expose this corrupt bunch of crooks and liars for what they are.

[Name removed]

55. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[corkhead]

57. YOU are kidding ME, Right? If it was about "Obeying The Law"

Chimpy would already be out the door. Repugs had it in for him and looked for a way to try to bring him down. Revenge for Nixon.

Are you sure you are in the right place?:shrug:

[ToolTex]

59. Just stay in the kitchen, Bridget.

Did your husband say you could have an opinion about politics?

[loudsue]

60. Ooops! You took a left, when you meant to take a right.

I think you're lost.

:kick:

[Lorien]

61. Then by your standards, every member of the BushCo misadministration

should be frog walked out Washington. They are the most criminal cabal ever to inhabit the Whitehouse....but I guess you've been too busy listening to an oxycontin junkie to have paid any attention to what's going on. :eyes:

[earth mom]

56. KICK!

:kick:

[dbeach]

58. good start

TREASON is the name of the game

GO IRISH!!!

[ToolTex]

62. Does anyone know if Fitzgerald is one of the Boston Fitzgeralds?

Maybe a distant cousin of Rose Kennedy. How sweet that would be.

[StellaBlue]

65. Personally

I hope he's more like, uh, one of the longshoremen Fitzgeralds. Or the South-Boston-street-sanitation-worker Fitzgeralds.

The Kennedys are leagues and leagues better than the Bushes, but they're still the Oligarchy.

IMHO.

[ToolTex]

66. Yeah, but Rose's daddy, (Honey Fitz), was a scraper.

However, I think I agree, a longshoreman sounds better.

[StellaBlue]

68. Yeah

They were real Democrats, like Teddy seems to be...

But they were still trying to consolidate power, money, etc., join the 'Establishment', 'make it', blah blah blah. Same old, same old.

And I love Rose Kennedy, don't get me wrong. :)

[never cry wolf]

69. He's a Brooklyn native from a working class family....n/t

[StellaBlue]

97. thanks for that!

:D

[Independent_Liberal]

67. Kick!

Impeach! Indict! Imprison!

[Wizard777]

73. In Light of NOLA. The rational for Iraq must be closely examined.

Was the Levee money truely better spent on the hunt for WMD's in Iraq?

[The Animator]

74. I remember Micheal Moore was on either the Daily Show or Bill Maher

and said something to the effect that if the FBI had tasked 100's of FBI agents to investigate what Al Queda cells in the US were up to, instead of some spots on a blue dress, September 11th might not have happened...

[FreedomAngel82]

84. So true

*sigh* :( And I also think if Gore was our president he wouldn't have ignored everything like Bush did and he would've worked with Clarke and got things done. I still highly believe after everything I know with 9/11 if Al Gore was president it would've never happened and neither would Iraq. I think New Orleans would've but not so horrible since they would've paid attention to it and etc since Gore knows a lot about global warming and all that.

[savemefromdumbya]

96. and we would have been able to deal with Katrina

Gore would have acted. He wouldn't have been reading my pet goat or playing his guitar?

[FreedomAngel82]

76. Wow

This is going to get good....

:popcorn:

[Nightwing]

86. Glad to see this is still being covered

I'm just hoping that Fitzgerald pushes and shoves this corrupt administration around and finally get to the bottom of Turd Blossom's treasonous act.

Heads should roll, no if's, and's or but's!

[rambler_american]

87. I'm a Red Sox fan

I'm used to having my hopes raised year after year only to have them dashed to pieces time and time again. It seems they are on track for another disappointment this year. Same with everything the Smirk administration has done. Over and over I think, Well this time they've gone and done it and will be ridden out of town on a rail after the tar and feathering. And it never happens.

But, hey! the SOX won it all last year. Maybe there is a god. Somebody get some rope!

[ClassWarrior]

88. /

[Herman47]

92. Incarceration Location

If Fitzgerald convicts any Bushie, the most fitting place for incarceration would be Guantanamo.

[ClassWarrior]

93. /

[ClassWarrior]

99. /

[Kurovski]

108. This is what author Gore Vidal pointed out in one of his

published works, I do believe. ( One of his "pamphlets", as he calls them.)

The Bush maladministration knew they were lying and crafted the State of the Union Address as well as they could--but typical of the ultimate failure that is BushCo--it just wasn't quite good enough. Sure, it scared folks into getting behind The Bush War, but it was a legal loser.

The pre-war accusations of "illegal war" were not mere propaganda.

I recall Mr. Vidal pointing out that Bush was definitely impeachable on this point.

You bet the American people will not be happy about this. But first we need the press and TEEVEE Media to present a united front for the truth in regard to this issue.

[FreedomAngel82]

110. Exactly

And I remember hearing or reading that Bush was advised not to use the lines about the nuclear ambitions in Niger but he used them anyways. He knew damn well what he was doing.