Bush knew Iraq had no WMD, but lied to Congress, and it's in print

[ProSense]

Bush knew Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction

Salon exclusive: Two former CIA officers say the president squelched top-secret intelligence, and a briefing by George Tenet, months before invading Iraq.
By Sidney Blumenthal

Sep. 06, 2007 | On Sept. 18, 2002, CIA director George Tenet briefed President Bush in the Oval Office on top-secret intelligence that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, according to two former senior CIA officers. Bush dismissed as worthless this information from the Iraqi foreign minister, a member of Saddam's inner circle, although it turned out to be accurate in every detail. Tenet never brought it up again.

Nor was the intelligence included in the National Intelligence Estimate of October 2002, which stated categorically that Iraq possessed WMD. No one in Congress was aware of the secret intelligence that Saddam had no WMD as the House of Representatives and the Senate voted, a week after the submission of the NIE, on the Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iraq. The information, moreover, was not circulated within the CIA among those agents involved in operations to prove whether Saddam had WMD.

On April 23, 2006, CBS's "60 Minutes" interviewed Tyler Drumheller, the former CIA chief of clandestine operations for Europe, who disclosed that the agency had received documentary intelligence from Naji Sabri, Saddam's foreign minister, that Saddam did not have WMD. "We continued to validate him the whole way through," said Drumheller. "The policy was set. The war in Iraq was coming, and they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy, to justify the policy."

Now two former senior CIA officers have confirmed Drumheller's account to me and provided the background to the story of how the information that might have stopped the invasion of Iraq was twisted in order to justify it. They described what Tenet said to Bush about the lack of WMD, and how Bush responded, and noted that Tenet never shared Sabri's intelligence with then Secretary of State Colin Powell. According to the former officers, the intelligence was also never shared with the senior military planning the invasion, which required U.S. soldiers to receive medical shots against the ill effects of WMD and to wear protective uniforms in the desert.

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Presidential Letter

Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate


March 18, 2003

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President: )

Consistent with section 3(b) of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243), and based on information available to me, including that in the enclosed document, I determine that:

(1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic and other peaceful means alone will neither (A) adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq nor (B) likely lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and

(2) acting pursuant to the Constitution and Public Law 107-243 is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.

Sincerely,

GEORGE W. BUSH

(emphasis added)

[pansypoo53219]

1. georgie went with truthiness.

sure INTELLIGENCE said saddam didn't, but georgie BELIEVES in his gut that saddam DID.

plausible deniability!

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Of course he knew, but he wasn't going to let facts get in the way of his

grand little war. Had they waited any longer to invade, the jig would have been up on the whole thing because of the inspections. The invasion was scheduled long before & nothing was going to stop it.

[blm]

9. The Downing Street Memos proved he knew it and would fix intel to

have his war. The memos were drafted for Tony Blair - so Tony Blair knew it, too, and yet played along every step of the way. Since Tony Blair knew, his advisors knew, too - so who else helped along the plan?

[KansDem]

3. This makes me sick...makes my physically ill...

He lied...pure and simple.

And who's going to be held accountable for the death and destruction he forced on the world?

Saddam's gallows should have had a second trap-door and noose...

[ladjf]

8. Maybe as many as a millions Iraqis killed in this war.

Bush is getting up there with Stalin and Hitler in terms of deaths for which he is responsible.

He has literally made the entire world sick.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. Where are your priorities?

It's not like he was getting a blow job IN THE OVAL OFFICE!!!!!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

5. Keith Olbermann reported on this early this week but it went by so

quickly, if you blinked you wouldn't have known. I wish he had followed up on it with his next guest.

[DemGa]

6. The fact that Congress was not allowed to see this intelligence

should be path to impeachment. I mean the bushies can say the threat was there regardless, but withholding intelligence from Congress is another matter.

[Johonny]

7. In all fairness

Someone might have told him Iraq had no WMD. But it's just possible Bush is insane and believes things regardless of facts.

[pansypoo53219]

12. cheeney

certainly does.

[babylonsister]

10. This info is now out. Why aren't the Dems starting impeachment proceedings

again? Or dragging his ass off in cuffs?

[sandnsea]

13. The Clintons supported the policy

They're the ones who have consistently backed the intelligence, allowing the neocons to say it was the same intelligence Bill had. They could have stated the obvious, that nobody knew anything after the 1998 bombings. But they didn't. She can talk all she wants about inspections now, but she went so far as to say we had to "stay the course" in Nov 2003. bill said we should give Bush the benefit of the doubt on the yellowcake. She's the one blocking fighting the deadline legislation now. They'll never hold the Bushies accountable because they agree with them on more than they disagree on. They just want to implement Bush's policies more effectively. Globalization, free trade, oil is power, US dominance, they believe in it all. They have been the problem in our party, not the solution.

[ProSense]

11. Kick! n/t