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| Republicans Hindering Probe of Intelligence |
| 2003-06-12 |
| Republicans Limit Probe of Iraq Intelligence I lean toward Andrew Sullivan's view on this as expressed here: LET THEM INVESTIGATE: The Republicans are dumb and paranoid to try and stop a full-fledged investigation into the intelligence findings that provided the basis for one of the main arguments for the war against Saddam. It's important that any flaws in intelligence are fully explored; and any hype that might have been added to the data should be fully exposed and examined. If the administration has nothing to hide - and I doubt it has - let the light in. These Republicans are acting like, er, well, the Clintons. http://www.andrewsullivan.com/ WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in Congress on Wednesday rebuffed calls by Democrats for a full-blown investigation into whether the Bush administration misread or inflated the threats posed by Iraq before going to war. But they agreed to hold oversight hearings and review documents on U.S. intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The Bush administration justified the invasion of Iraq largely on the imminent threat it said such weapons posed, but since the war none has been found. Senior Republicans dismissed as political gamesmanship demands by some Democrats for a full-scale probe into whether the United States was misled into going to war. The Dems better be pretty crafty on this or they will end up burning themselves. "There seems to be a campaign afoot by some to criticize the intelligence community and the president for connecting the dots, for putting together a picture that seemed all too obvious," said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, of Kansas. The Republican chairmen of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee joined Roberts in rejecting calls for an investigation. The White House has stood by its position that Iraq was pursuing banned weapons, but officials have begun to talk of finding weapons "programs" or "capabilities" instead of the weapons themselves. 'HYPED' INTELLIGENCE? Some Democrats say the administration appears to have "hyped" the intelligence, drawing the most dire conclusions from the available information in a push for war to oust President Saddam Hussein. If this is true, then I want to know it and let the chips fall. Democrats on the two Senate committees that oversee intelligence operations called for a formal joint investigation of the administration's case on Iraq's weapons and alleged links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. "We've got to make sure that the CIA does not embellish or distort in any way the intelligence information in order to advance a policy of any administration," said Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the Intelligence Committee's ranking Democrat, called the Republicans' plan for oversight hearings "entirely inadequate and slow-paced." "I'm not sure whether they really want to get to the crux of what really happened," he said, adding that he would keep pressing for a broad inquiry. But Roberts said he was seeking all relevant documents from the administration and would proceed "in a very deliberate and bipartisan manner" starting with a closed hearing next week. With media reports of unnamed officials saying they felt pressured to slant intelligence, Roberts said he has "yet to hear from any intelligence official expressing such concerns" and urged anyone in that position to tell the committee. Senate Armed Serives Committee Chairman John Warner of Virginia said the evidence he has seen "does not rise to give the presumption that anyone in this administration has hyped or cooked or embellished such evidence to a particular purpose." |
| Posted by:ColoradoConservative |
| #13 Let me see now...George Bush looked at the most dire thing that Saddam could do (give a proxie WMDs to use against us and maybe kill a million people) and decided to prevent that from happening.... yeah the democrats should push this one big time.... it is good a way as any to insure his reelection |
| Posted by: okie 2003-06-12 22:53:59 |
| #12 LH - as a Pack member as well as VRWC member, I wish you'd keep your thoughts to yourself ;-) Of course, you are completely right. It doesn't help the Dems that Iowa and N.H. get first votes either, especially Iowa, which competes with the rest as "most liberal nuthouse". Too much weight goes to the activists, which tend to teh extremities of the party planks |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-06-12 17:35:51 |
| #11 best thing for the dems is probably if Dean wins the nomination, and loses big. Yeah, its bad further down the ticket, but it clears the way for the "pragmatic wing" to take over and win in 2008. Right now the lefties would like to claim the Clinton wins were a fluke, and blame losing in 2000 on Gore being too moderate. If dems nominate Joe, or Edwards and they lose - as they very well might, against an incumbent in wartime, with economy likely picking back up by fall 2004, the lefties will blame it all on the DLC. The activists may like the left, but the elected officials hate having a leftie at the top of the ticket, since it often leads to them losing their jobs. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-06-12 17:12:14 |
| #10 I think the best way to get the Democrats to hang themselves would be to stonewall them so they can continue harping on this issue well into 2004. WMD's are a losing issue for them - their base will get wound up about conspiracy theories, but no ordinary person is going to worry about being 99.99% sure about Saddam. The point is that he's gone. We're still waiting for the other shoe to drop with respect to al Qaeda.* When that happens, the Democrats are going to get wiped out in the 2004 elections. Bush's coat-tails will be a mile long. The Democrats are playing politics in a time of war. They will be appropriately rewarded at the voting booth. *Doesn't even have to be a WTC scale attack. A Palestinian-style suicide bomber on the New York subway during rush hour would kill 200-300 people. (200 people can fit into a single subway car - at rush hour, it gets packed). |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-06-12 16:51:30 |
| #9 I agree, don't stop these hearings. Let the Dems incur the wrath of the American people for trying to politicize the war. Turn the tables lol |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-06-12 15:38:41 |
| #8 The big problem with such an inspection of both the information and its implications is the habit most Dummycheats (and far too large a number of Repuglycons) have of talking when they should be keeping their mouths shut. I am constantly amazed at how our "elected representatives" have no concept of the need to protect classified information and/or the sources of that information, or the need to keep it from being spread all over the front of our newspapers. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-06-12 14:51:50 |
| #7 Sorry, link didn't show. Let's try again. Right Wing News |
| Posted by: Hodadenon 2003-06-12 14:48:43 |
| #6 Right Wing News has a nice compilation of quotes(unDowdified) from other people who "hyped" the idea of WMD. Check it out. |
| Posted by: Hodadenon 2003-06-12 14:46:15 |
| #5 Hell yes, drag Billy in and PUT HIM UNDER OATH. Then if he provably lies even *once*, jug his ass. Leavenworth in nice this time of year, I hear. |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-06-12 14:32:29 |
| #4 The first person that the panel should call before them is President Clinton. It was his admistration that called for Iraq to come clean on the WMDs and launched missile strikes to force (right) the issue. Second should be Congressman and Presidential wanabee Dick Gepdhart for he too told us of the 'grave dangers' of the Iraqi WMDs programs. Sean Penn should also be called as an eye witness. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC California Chapter) 2003-06-12 13:53:14 |
| #3 I agree, don't stop these hearings. Let the Dems incur the wrath of the American people for trying to politicize the war. Turn the tables lol |
| Posted by: Frank G 6/12/2003 3:38:41 PM |
| #2 Right Wing News has a nice compilation of quotes(unDowdified) from other people who "hyped" the idea of WMD. Check it out. |
| Posted by: Hodadenon 6/12/2003 2:46:15 PM |
| #1 The first person that the panel should call before them is President Clinton. It was his admistration that called for Iraq to come clean on the WMDs and launched missile strikes to force (right) the issue. Second should be Congressman and Presidential wanabee Dick Gepdhart for he too told us of the 'grave dangers' of the Iraqi WMDs programs. Sean Penn should also be called as an eye witness. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC California Chapter) 6/12/2003 1:53:14 PM |