Rockefeller Memo Revisited: Why Reid Did What He Did?

NickQueen.com ^

[sonsofliberty2000]

Yesterday Senator Harry Reid forced the Senate into a closed session to discuss "an investigation of the intelligence underpinning the 2003 invasion of Iraq"

Afterwards they came out, and said that three members from each party would:

appoint a bipartisan group of senators to assess the progress of the "Phase 2" probe, the office of Majority Leader Bill Frist said.

The three Republicans and three Democrats are to report back to Senate leaders by November 14.

Reid immediately stated that his three Senators were Durbin, Rockefeller and another Senator (still looking for the official list). This concerns me, mainly over Rockefeller. Why, you ask?

Well let's go into the Wayback Machine and see what Rockefeller was concerned with this time two years ago:

We have carefully reviewed our options under the rules and believe we have identified the best approach. Our plan is as follows:

"1) Pull the majority along as far as we can on issues that may lead to major new disclosures regarding improper or questionable conduct by administration officials. We are having some success in that regard.

"For example, in addition to the President's State of the Union speech, the chairman [Sen. Pat Roberts] has agreed to look at the activities of the office of the Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, as well as Secretary Bolton's office at the State Department.

"The fact that the chairman supports our investigations into these offices and cosigns our requests for information is helpful and potentially crucial. We don't know what we will find but our prospects for getting the access we seek is far greater when we have the backing of the majority. [We can verbally mention some of the intriguing leads we are pursuing.]

"2) Assiduously prepare Democratic "additional views" to attach to any interim or final reports the committee may release. Committee rules provide this opportunity and we intend to take full advantage of it.

"In that regard we may have already compiled all the public statements on Iraq made by senior administration officials. We will identify the most exaggerated claims. We will contrast them with the intelligence estimates that have since been declassified. Our additional views will also, among other things, castigate the majority for seeking to limit the scope of the inquiry.

"The Democrats will then be in a strong position to reopen the question of establishing an Independent Commission [i.e., the Corzine Amendment.]

That is correct, a memo trying to politicize the war intelligence. So now let us ask ourselves if this is still being carried out. I think so.

[Sacajaweau]

btt

[Ann Archy]

Nevada is such a "kick-ass" state and the have the biggest wussy girlie man type....West Vrginia is a "redneck Good old Boy, down to earth" state, and they have TWO of the most Pompous and ARROGANT Senators.....what's wrong with these pictures??

[prognostigaator]

"Our additional views will also, among other things, castigate the majority for seeking to limit the scope of the inquiry. "

[piasa]

2004 : (LEAKS BY DURBIN, ROCKEFELLER & WYDEN CONCERNING A CIA SATELLITE PROGRAM - See MISTY?) The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into whether Democratic Senators Dick Durbin, Jay Rockefeller and Ron Wyden leaked details about a secret "black ops" CIA satellite program last December in a move that may have seriously compromised national security, former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Jed Babbin said on Saturday.
"The CIA made a request to the Justice Department to investigate and possibly bring criminal charges against these three [senators]," Babbin told WABC Radio host Monica Crowley. "My information is that investigation is ongoing."
Mr. Rockefeller is the Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Mr. Durbin is the number two ranking Democrat in the Senate.
Media reports on the satellite leak last December indicated that the Bush administration was concerned about public comments by Durbin, Rockefeller and Wyden and that the CIA had requested a Justice Department probe.
"The formal request for a leaks investigation would target people who described sensitive details about a new generation of spy satellites to The Washington Post, which published a page-one story about the espionage program Saturday [Dec. 11, 2004]," a Justice Department official told the Associated Press at the time.
But the same official told the AP that Justice "has not decided whether to investigate."
Former Deputy Undersecretary Babbin's comments on Saturday were the first indication that such a probe was actually launched and is ongoing.
"The fact of the matter is that [Durbin, Rockefeller and Wyden] divulged something that was above and beyond top secret and frankly, they probably blew the strategy and the hundreds of millions of dollars that were being spent to pursue it," he told Crowley.
"The acknowledgement of [the "black ops" program's] existence is not even proper and the acknowledgement of them and the details of them can very well damage national security," Babbin added.
Asked if he thought the three Senate Democrats should have their security clearances revoked for the duration of the leak probe, the former Defense Department official said, "Absolutely and forthwith. I mean, they should have been revoked at the time of the leak."
"There's really not much doubt about the leak having occurred," Babbin told Crowley. "It's in the press records, it's in the Congressional record. We know what they did." "The only question," he explained, "is how much damage was done by the leak. And that's part of the criminal investigation right now - to do a damage assessment, to figure out how much this is going to cost us strategically and militarily." --------- "Report: Justice Department Probing Durbin, Rockefeller CIA Leak," by Carl Limbacher, NewsMax, 7/23/05 , http:/newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/7/23/131312.shtml

[piasa]

The conservatives in those states are probably so divided against themselves that the liberals have an easy time of it.

[ntnychik]

"The Memo" playing out in real time.

[potlatch]

Yes, they are following the rules of the Memo. I hope all the conservative radio hosts and TV shows will talk about this.

[devolve]

[potlatch]

LOL, she must be chewing him out for not indicting Rove!!

[smoothsailing]

HAPPY BABSFITZ !!!

[TheClintons-STILLAnti-American]

"Anything to distract from the Alito nomination and keep the pot boiling over Iraq. Effin' traitors the Democrats are."

Just imagine what this nation could accomplish against those who seek to destroy us outside the country if we were united and didn't have to constantly battle those who seek to destroy us from within.

[Rosemont]

Republicans need to be reminded of this every day until they decide to fight back.

[NRA2BFree]

Bump for later.