McClatchy: White House rejected warnings on Iraq War

[seafan]

http://www.miamiherald.com/884/story/119418.html">White House rejected warnings on Iraq War


By JONATHAN S. LANDAY
May 26, 2007

WASHINGTON --
U.S. intelligence agencies warned the Bush administration before the invasion of Iraq that ousting Saddam Hussein would create a ''significant risk'' of sectarian strife, encourage al Qaeda attacks and open the way for Iranian interference.
The Senate Intelligence Committee on Friday released declassified prewar intelligence reports and summaries of others that cautioned that establishing democracy in Iraq would be ''long, difficult and probably turbulent'' and said that while most Iraqis would welcome elections, the country's ethnic and religious leaders would be unwilling to share power.


Nevertheless, President Bush, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top aides decided not to deploy the major occupation that force military planners had recommended, planned to reduce U.S. troops rapidly after the invasion and believed that ousting Saddam would ignite a democratic revolution across the Middle East.
The administration also instituted a massive purge of members of Saddam's Baath Party and disbanded the Iraqi army -- moves that helped spark the country's Sunni Muslim insurgency -- even though the newly declassified reports had recommended against doing so.


The committee released two newly declassified January 2003 analyses by the National Intelligence Council -- whose work reflects the consensus of the nation's intelligence agencies -- and summaries of reports by individual agencies as part of a four-year investigation into the administration's use of prewar intelligence on Iraq.


Committee members voted 10-5 to release the documents, with Republican members Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia Snowe of Maine joining majority Democrats in approving the decision. .....
''These dire warnings were widely distributed at the highest levels of government, and it's clear that the administration didn't plan for any of them,'' said the committee's chairman, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.


Republicans disputed the documents' value and said their release ''exaggerates the significance'' of prewar intelligence assessments because they were based more on expert analysis than on hard intelligence.

.....

President Bush said at a news conference Thursday that his administration was ``warned about a lot of things, some of which happened, some of which didn't happen.''
But, he added, ``The world's better off without Saddam Hussein in power. I know the Iraqis are better off without Saddam Hussein in power. I think America is safer without Saddam Hussein in power.

.....

Is it time to impeach Bush/Cheney yet?

[spanone]

1. ....and President Clinton had sex.

''These dire warnings were widely distributed at the highest levels of government, and it's clear that the administration didn't plan for any of them,'' said the committee's chairman, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.

[TwilightGardener]

2. They only went with the (questionable) intelligence that fit their scheme, and threw away

the rest--think of all the lives that could have been saved, Iraqi and American, and all of the money and effort, if they had at least used this intelligence to PLAN for the post-invasion, even if it didn't deter them from invading. Sick. Kudos to Chuck Hagel (my Senator) and Snowe for siding with the Dems to get this released to the public.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Prez Shit-for-Brains is still peeing on my shoes and telling me it is raining.

[Bolo Boffin]

4. We have discovered the problem with the US intelligence service.

The person they were trying to communicate with.

[Edweird]

5. and these animals are flying trial balloons for Iran weekly.

It isn't going to stop, especially since our dem leadership has abdicated their duties as the opposition party.

[RC]

6. It is just like this administration did everything possible to

setup the present situation in Iraq on purpose. I wonder if Halliburton, Blackwater and the oil companies knew about this beforehand?

[donkeyotay]

7. It only took 4 years to get a little bit of truth out, but the GOP don't want to hear it

Republicans disputed the documents' value and said their release ''exaggerates the significance'' of prewar intelligence assessments because they were based more on expert analysis than on hard intelligence.

Translation time: Republicans disputed the documents' value and said their release ''exaggerates the significance'' of prewar intelligence assessments because they were based on our absolute best, expert analysis rather than on hard-headed neocon feith-based pre-planned-war intelligence.

[TwilightGardener]

8. Well-put. Can't believe, after all this, that most 'Pugs on the INTELLIGENCE

Committee are trying to protect the Chimperor, when they know full well what happened.