CIA Seeks Probe of Iraq-Al Qaeda Memo Leak [Memo reveals Iraq-Al Qaeda link Dems said was impossible

Washington Post ^ | Tuesday, November 18, 2003 | By Walter Pincus

[JohnHuang2]

By Walter Pincus Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, November 18, 2003; Page A18

The CIA will ask the Justice Department to investigate the leak of a 16-page classified Pentagon memo that listed and briefly described raw agency intelligence on any relationship between Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network, according to congressional and administration sources.

In addition, the leaders of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Vice Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), are considering making their own request for a Justice investigation. The top-secret memo was attached to an Oct. 27 letter to them from Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith. Feith was answering a request that he support his assertion during a closed-door hearing in July that there was intelligence to support a longtime relationship between the Iraqi leader and the terrorist group.

Excerpts from the memo were first published Saturday in the issue of the Weekly Standard dated Nov. 24. Under the headline "Case Closed," the article described the memo as documenting "an operational relationship from the early 1990s to 2003" between bin Laden and Hussein. It describes the memo as containing "50 numbered points" that are "best viewed as sort of a 'Cliff's Notes' version of the relationship. It contains the highlights, but it is far from exhaustive."

[JohnHuang2]

Tuesday, November 18, 2003

Quote of the Day by South40

[Numbers Guy]

The Weekly Standard article based on the leak, which undercuts the Dem rants about the war, has been totally ignored by the mainstream media.

But now the mainstream media will go into a feeding frenzy over who leaked the memo.

It's very clear that there are elements in the CIA who are attempted to embarrass President Bush at every opportunity (the appointment of leftist twit Wilson is just one example). If George Tenet can't get those people under control, he should be fired

[Chad Fairbanks]

What is it with memos lately? Maybe we need to get congress on this ASAP, with a "Memo Abuse Act of 2003", to stop government people from writing memos for a while.... ;0)

[Tijeras_Slim]

Send your congresscritter a memo.

[Pikamax]

pincus continues to try and bury this memo in the article as well.

[livius]

I can't think of a better way of calling attention to it. Had it been released through "normal" channels, the mainstream media would have buried it entirely.

[RippleFire]

bump

[Howlin]

I'm beginning to wonder if the CIA is "with us."

[nuffsenuff]

Oh look, the Washington Post is doing its best to debunk the info... How cute.

[Steve_Seattle]

"The Weekly Standard article based on the leak, which undercuts the Dem rants about the war, has been totally ignored by the mainstream media. But now the mainstream media will go into a feeding frenzy over who leaked the memo."

Correct. Disgusting, aren't they? Just yesterday, the libs on Fox's round table - the only network that seemed to mention the memo - were saying there was "nothing new" in the memo.

[eyespysomething]

Outlaw memos now!!!


Especially at my office.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Good idea. I'd post it here first, but I'm afraid it would be leaked ;0)

< looks around for Democratic Senators... >

[marty60]

When the Thing (akaBJClinton)had agood relationship with the CIA, you knew it had been corrupted.

Looks like a patriot has had enough.

[JohnGalt]

You realize the Weekly Standard and Fox News are owned by the same person, and both share Fred Barnes?

[Libertina]

BTTT

[Numbers Guy]

W. Patrick Lang, former head of the Middle East section of the DIA, said yesterday that the Standard article "is a listing of a mass of unconfirmed reports, many of which themselves indicate that the two groups continued to try to establish some sort of relationship. If they had such a productive relationship, why did they have to keep trying?"

The above has to be the most pathetic attempt to debunk that I've ever seen in my life.

I suppose because things got rough on occasion between the US/UK and the USSR during WW II, that means we weren't allied with the Soviets.

The null hypothesis of the left was that there was NO relationship between bin Laden and Saddam. Now this doofus is reduced to saying that it might not have been a full-fledged lip-lock sucky-face type of relationship. That's far diferent from saying there was no relationship whatsoever.

[JohnHuang2]

pincus continues to try and bury this memo in the article as well.

Indeed, I only heard about this article when it was mentioned on Fox News Channel.

[Strider]

Hannity said it wasn't a Republican that leaked the memo.

My guess is the democrat Senator from Indiana.

[JohnHuang2]

Sen. Evan Bayh? You may be on to something.

[JohnHuang2]

Although the memo referred to in this report isn't the Democrat strategy memo -- that's a separate memo.