Leaked memo sparks rancor in Senate - Rockefeller suggests Republican break-in

Boston Globe ^ | November 6, 2003 | Robert Schlesinger

[Cincinatus' Wife]

WASHINGTON -- The festering quarrel over the Senate investigation into pre-war US intelligence on Iraq flared up yesterday as Republicans and Democrats traded charges of politicizing the probe and engaging in office espionage.

At issue was a draft strategy memorandum written by a Democratic staff member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Leaked to the media Tuesday night, it laid out how the party could steer the probe in an effort to produce the information most damaging to the Bush administration.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Leaked memo causes furor - Democrats' Iraq probe is set back as GOP attacks*** Senate Democrats were forced on the defensive yesterday after Republicans obtained a leaked memorandum outlining an opposition strategy for criticizing the administration's use of intelligence prior to the invasion of Iraq. The contents of the memo, first reported late Tuesday by conservative radio and Fox News Channel commentator Sean Hannity, prompted harsh condemnations by Republicans, including members of the Intelligence Committee. It also prompted calls from both sides of the aisle for further investigation. Republicans demanded scrutiny of whether Senate rules had been violated by the drafting of the partisan memo, while Democrats demanded a probe of how the document….***

[PJ-Comix]

Did anybody see ANYTHING on the lamestream news yesterday about this memo? I watched Petah Jennings and saw NOTHING. However, Petah must have been VERY AWARE of the memo since he led off his broadcast with a story (delivered in urgent tones) about some obscure Lebanese businessman who claims that a bigwig Iraqi was willing to let an American disarmament team into Iraq shortly before the war broke out. This turned out to be a complete NON-STORY (nothing much in the news about this today) but it served as a convenient smokescreen for Petah to use to divert attention away from the memo.

Let's see. Petah reports on a non-story about Iraq and completely ignores a major story concerning the memo. Way to go, Petah!

[SwinneySwitch]

Typical demonrat spin!

[Ramius]

Break-in... hehehe... in their dreams.

"Paging Mr. Liddy... please pick up the white courtesy phone..."

[alloysteel]

The Democrats would LOVE to turn this into something resembling the Watergate breakin, and tie it to some sinister plot by the Bush Administration and John Ashcroft.

[cwb]

Why is it is that when a republican memo goes public, it's leaked...but Democratic memos are stolen? Hmmm.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Text of the Democrat Memo

[Petronski]

Rockefeller questioned how the document ended up in the hands of the media, suggesting the committee's Republican staff may have plucked it from a garbage can or broken into a Democratic computer.

LOL

[Enterprise]

Dressed in black, looked for they cannot be seen, listened for they canot be heard. The ninja Republicans!

[freedomcrusader]

The demonRATS are more concerned about keeping their internal memos secret than they are in keeping intelligence secret.

[cars for sale]

a republican break-in ?????/ what an elite punk
a distraction accusation to deflect the memo's content

[KellyAdmirer]

Rockefeller questioned how the document ended up in the hands of the media, suggesting the committee's Republican staff may have plucked it from a garbage can or broken into a Democratic computer.

Ummm, if either of those scenarios is true - plucking sensitive documents from the trash or invading a supposedly secure computer - may I suggest that the security procedures of senior members of the, ahem, Intelligence Committee are lax and this is a sign that the people responsible for our nation's security and protecting vital intelligence secrets - that means you, Jay - are incompetent boobs?

Anyway, I highly doubt there was any Watergate-style break-in, "Security Risk" Rockefeller is just dancing as fast as he can to shift the blame off himself for injecting partisanship into national security.

[Republican Red]

Last night Hannity was begging Senator Corizine to get his Democratic friends to investigate the matter and call Hannity to testify under oath and make him testify how he got the memo.

Hasnnity can't wait to tell all how he got the memo.

[ChadsDad]

Wheres G.Gordon?

[em2vn]

"Rockefeller questioned how the document ended up in the hands of the media, suggesting the committee's Republican staff may have plucked it from a garbage can or broken into a Democratic computer."
Well senator this certainly says a lot about how you view security. What else has your staff left in the trash or on an unsecure computer that can be plucked by agents bent on the destruction of our nation.
I would think your sloppy staff should be fired and you should be driven from office tied to the back of a muddy hog.

[cars for sale]

watching C=Span(ing for democrats) 'tween Dubya's speech and listening to Lispy Leahy and Bloviator Durbin
is flat out laughable. Anti americans front and center

[petercooper]

Maybe Hannity broke in.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Senator Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., speaks on NBC's 'Meet the Press' Sunday, Oct. 26, 2003 in Washington. Rockefeller talked about the intelligence concerns and the Bush Administration's policies on the current situation in Iraq. (AP Photo/NBC News, Alex Wong, HO)

[petitfour]

Maybe someone obtained the memo during the Halloween costume fiasco last week. Except that was in a House office building which contains a lot of House intel committee members' offices. Maybe Senator Rockefeller has employed a nonRAT who is actually spying for the other side. Maybe maybe maybe.

[cars for sale]

Hannity said it was NOT our side that gave it to him but an
alarmed one "from their side"