Exclusive: Cheney and the ‘Raw’ Intelligence ('Rat Memo Envy generates non-story)

Newsweek ^ | 6 December 2003 | Mark Hosenball & Michael Isikoff

[Stultis]

[***snippage***]

THE MEMO, obtained by NEWSWEEK, suggests that the INC last year was directly feeding intelligence reports about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and purported ties to terrorism to one of Cheney’s top foreign- policy aides. Cheney staffers later pushed INC info—including defectors’ claims about WMD and terror ties—to bolster the case that Saddam’s government posed a direct threat to America.

[***snip***] a June 2002 memo written by INC lobbyist Entifadh Qunbar to a U.S. Senate committee lists John Hannah, a senior national-security aide on Cheney’s staff, as one of two “U.S. governmental recipients” for reports generated by an intelligence program being run by the INC and which was then being funded by the State Department.

[***snip***] Cheney aide insisted that the memo was misleading, and flatly denied that the vice president received “raw” intelligence from the INC. Hannah discussed only Iraqi political issues with INC representatives, not intelligence [***snip***]

A Pentagon official [***snip***] suggesting the author of the memo was just “dropping names” to drum up support for the INC on Capitol Hill.

[Stultis]

Mark Hosenball & Michael Isikoff are the same anemic duo who ineffectually pooh-poohed the Feith Memo laying out (via some 50 bullet points) links between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

Now they got 'em a memo, by golly, even though the story goes nowhere!

[Just mythoughts]

More mud stirring. So the "media whores" and the lying liberals in Congress think they have the say in what the "veep" does.

I don't recall so much attention given to algore passing off billions to some Russians and "big oil".

[weegee]

I guess that this will have to be known as MemoGate3...

[expatpat]

What is the INC?

[Stultis]

Iraqi Nation Congress. The expat group headed by Chalibi.

[expatpat]

Thx.