Posted on 03/11/2006 9:22:21 AM PST by kimosabe31
On February 16, President George W. Bush assembled a small group of congressional Republicans for a briefing on Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley were there, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad participated via teleconference from Baghdad. As the meeting was beginning, Mike Pence spoke up. The Indiana Republican, a leader of conservatives in the House, was seated next to Bush."Yesterday, Mr. President, the war had its best night on the network news since the war ended," Pence said."Is this the tapes thing?" Bush asked, referring to two ABC News reports that included excerpts of recordings Saddam Hussein made of meetings with his war cabinet in the years before the U.S. invasion. Bush had not seen the newscasts but had been briefed on them.
Pence framed his response as a question, quoting Abraham Lincoln: "One of your Republican predecessors said, 'Give the people the facts and the Republic will be saved.' There are 3,000 hours of Saddam tapes and millions of pages of other documents that we captured after the war. When will the American public get to see this information?
"Bush replied that he wanted the documents released. He turned to Hadley and asked for an update. Hadley explained that John Negroponte, Bush's Director of National Intelligence, "owns the documents" and that DNI lawyers were deciding how they might be handled.
Bush extended his arms in exasperation and worried aloud that people who see the documents in 10 years will wonder why they weren't released sooner. "If I knew then what I know now," Bush said in the voice of a war skeptic, "I would have been more supportive of the war.
"Bush told Hadley to expedite the release of the Iraq documents. "This stuff ought to be out. Put this stuff out."
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
Negroponte has been an anti-commie hero for years working in the Nixon, Reagan and Bush administration. To claim that Negroponte doesn't want to embarrass the Russians is to show a lack of knowledge in Negroponte's long anti-left record.
For months, Negroponte has argued privately that while the documents may be of historical interest, they are not particularly valuable as intelligence product
Ok, then....which is it?
The excerpt that you cite is not a Negroponte quote. Its source is nebulous.
Negroponte, a sycophant for the UN.
Its source is nebulous.
Then I guess his office is a nebulous source.
I don't think so FreeReign. This is just one of his numerous weak alibis. No one is telling him to release without reading first. Negroponte is footdragging on those documents that have already been vetted. He's protecting loudmouth libs from public exposure.
Which would be first to ask for the consequences?
The French or Germans?
Bush said on February 16th that he wants the documents realeased.
Negroponte said after February 16th that the documents should not be released.
It doesn't logically follow(assuming the source on the quotes in this article are correct) that one has to believe either Bush or Negroponte over the other.
As I said before Negroponte is one of the all-time, anti-commie, hated-by-the-left, good guys. You have no idea who John Negroponte is, do you.
Read Mad_Tom_Rackham's post # 79 again. Your argument has been nullified.
FreeReign, I think you are Negroponte.
He's the king of Siam, right?
Then I guess his office is a nebulous source.
No, I said the source of the statement that was in your post was nebulous. You've now posted a different statement.
Maybe the Russians contracted to buy a book by Negroponte?
Isn't that how it's done?
His office's statements directly contradict his current statements.
Why? Save the he's a good guy speach. Why the deception if not to protect someone or some nation?
See above. What exactly don't you understand?
How about these lines in the article -
Bush extended his arms in exasperation and worried aloud that people who see the documents in 10 years will wonder why they weren't released sooner. "If I knew then what I know now," Bush said in the voice of a war skeptic, "I would have been more supportive of the war.
War skeptic dumb Bush eh? Somebody has an agenda!
You are not making sense. Exactly what quote did you consider to be from a nebulous source?
His office statement is vague. His subsequent statement is very specific to his reason.
First I wouldn't call it decpetion and second his motives could be -- god forbid -- national security as he states.
If Negroponte is against these documents being released, maybe Paul Volker's name is in there somewhere. He investigated the OFF program and he was hand picked by Koffee. I don't know, I see plans, within plans, within plans.(Dune) I remember when the report on the OFF scandal was released. Many on FR believed that Volker was covering Annan's ass.
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