Posted on 11/14/2005 1:30:58 PM PST by bnelson44
Yesterday, on Fox News Sunday, the following exchange took place between Chris Wallace and U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller, vice chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence:
WALLACE: Now, the President never said that Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat. As you saw, you did say that. If anyone hyped the intelligence, isn't it Jay Rockefeller?
While Democrats in Washington are berating the White House for having prewar intelligence wrong, a high-profile U.S. senator, member of the Select Committee on Intelligence, who has a name more internationally recognizable than Richard Cheney's, tells two putative allies (Saudi Arabia and Jordan) and an enemy who is allied with Saddam Hussein (Syria) that the United States was going to war with Iraq. This is not a prewar intelligence mistake, it is a prewar intelligence giveaway.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
If the Republicans would act like the majority party AND act like the Dems themselves, the leadership would have beem all over this today. The republicans should be asking Jay Rockefeller exactly what he said and to whom and demand he be removed from the Senate Intelligence committee...you know that if a similar statement had been made by a Republican, Howard Dean would be on every show demanding his head.
But instead, they say nothing...they play nice...and stay on the defense. THis is HUGE and certanly discrediting to a Democrat who has been leading the Senate charge against Bush
Lets all not forget Kerry outing an undercover agent during the hearings mentioning his name several times.
Frankly, Rockefeller is stupid, and doesn't belong in the Senate. If he hadn't moved to a State he could buy, he probably wouldn't be in the Senate.
I usually give most Senators the benefit of the doubt. They SURELY can't be all that dumb if they made it as far as they have. Chalk most of it up to partisan hatred and unbridledquest for power.
Rockefeller on the other hand, besides from looking like he could be an uncle to the Baldwin Bros., I truly don't believe is all that bright. He's not even good at spin, when he hasn't a clue what he is talking about.
My father once had business dealings with Jay-Baby. Now, when my father sees something incredibly stupid or inane, he says "That's not just dumb, that's Rockefeller dumb."
I once complained to the Charleston (WV)Daily Mail about his memo and why it was never discussed there. No answer. Was I surprised? NOT!
Unless there's been a change in posting guidelines I'm unaware of, NR articles do not require excerpting.
From the link in it's entirety:
November 14, 2005, 3:41 p.m.
Rockefeller's Confession
What was the West Virginia Democrat doing as a freelancing prewar diplomat?
By William J. Bennett
Yesterday, on Fox News Sunday, the following exchange took place between Chris Wallace and U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller, vice chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence:
WALLACE: Now, the President never said that Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat. As you saw, you did say that. If anyone hyped the intelligence, isn't it Jay Rockefeller?
SEN. ROCKEFELLER: No. The I mean, this question is asked a thousand times and I'll be happy to answer it a thousand times. I took a trip by myself in January of 2002 to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, and I told each of the heads of state that it was my view that George Bush had already made up his mind to go to war against Iraq that that was a predetermined set course which had taken shape shortly after 9/11.
While Democrats in Washington are berating the White House for having prewar intelligence wrong, a high-profile U.S. senator, member of the Select Committee on Intelligence, who has a name more internationally recognizable than Richard Cheney's, tells two putative allies (Saudi Arabia and Jordan) and an enemy who is allied with Saddam Hussein (Syria) that the United States was going to war with Iraq. This is not a prewar intelligence mistake, it is a prewar intelligence giveaway.
Syria is not only on the list of state sponsors of terrorism and the country many speculate is where Hussein has secreted weapons, it is also the country from which terrorists are flowing into Iraq to fight our troops and allies. Jordan and Saudi Arabia have had, over the years, conflicted loyalties. What was Senator Rockefeller doing? What was he thinking? And all this before President Bush even made a public speech about Iraq to the U.N. or anyone else.
We can have our umpteenth investigation into what the White House knew and when it knew it about Iraqi weapons we will find the same answer: It knew what President Clinton, Sandy Berger, Madeline Albright, and William Cohen knew when they made speeches about the dangers of Iraq in the late 1990s and when President Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act. How about an investigation, now, into what exactly Senator Jay Rockefeller told Syria and just what Syria might have done with the information made available to them presumably before it was made available to the U.N., the Senate, or the American people.
Senators and congressmen don't have to agree with their president's policies, and they should make the president robustly defend his policies but they should not be acting as if they are the president or secretary of state; they should not be tipping off sometimes friends and definitive enemies about war plans that not even the president has yet made as policy. This is the true mockery of prewar intelligence, and Senator Rockefeller should fully explain his actions.
If Syria or elements in Saudi Arabia began acting on this information before we even went to war in Iraq (more than a year later), then Senator Rockefeller may have seriously harmed, impeded, and hindered our war efforts, our troops, and the entire operation in the Middle East. This should be investigated immediately; and perhaps Senator Rockefeller should step down from the Intelligence Committee until an investigation is complete.
William J. Bennett is the host of the nationally syndicated radio show, Bill Bennett's Morning in America, and the Washington Fellow at the Claremont Institute.
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/bennett200511141541.asp
Nothing is going to happen from this, folks. This is the Senate. Move along ... move along.
Rocky Bump!
Trust fund boy bought his seat in WV.
That is not at all in line with the views of democrats. They were calling for the head of Karl Rove even when he wasn't charged with anything and demanded an apology by the president...and that was for someone that apparently isn't guilty of anything. So how much more should Rockefeller not only resign from the Senate but the democrat party should apologize to the nation for the actions of leading members of their party putting soldiers at risk by leaking intelligence information to our enemies?!
Is Spooked White House a book or an article?
Senator ROBERTS: I DEMAND AN INVESTIGATION!
Yeah, good idea......I'll write hillary and chuckie right away.........I'm sure they will want him arrested for treason.......
What??? This one is a dem and from West Virginia.
Goes to show two things, Rockefellers know no party, only convenience and it shows that West Virginia will elect anyone if he is a dem.
He should immediately be forced from the Intelligence Committee,and that's just for starters.
Here's a link to a complete transcript from FNS
It's okay to harm national security... the only real sin to a Democrat is making a liberal lose face.
Moron alert...........
This fool gives morons a bad name.
Impeach Senator Rockefeller.
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