Posted on 09/26/2006 10:12:20 AM PDT by Lunatic Fringe
Edited on 09/26/2006 10:29:59 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi asked her colleagues Tuesday to close the House's doors for a highly unusual secret session to discuss a classified intelligence analysis on global terrorism.
Such a session hasn't happened in the House since July 1983, when the chamber went into a closed session to discuss the United States' support for paramilitary operations in Nicaragua.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Pelosi, D-Calif., said the secret session is necessary to allow members to better understand the intelligence community's most recent assessment on global terrorism.
She said she hoped House Republicans would recognize the need for such an internal debate on the document, some of which leaked to the news media over the weekend.
According to the media reports, the intelligence estimate "is the administration's worst nightmare. It is not a corroboration of what the president is saying. It is a contradiction of what the president is saying," she said.
Pelosi's move followed President Bush's announcement that he will declassify the key findings of the intelligence assessment, which he and his top advisers have portrayed as a broad look at trends in terrorism rather than focusing on the impact of Iraq on U.S. national security.
It wasn't immediately clear whether the Republican-controlled House would allow the Democratic effort to shift the chamber's attention to one of the most controversial political issues of the November elections: the Bush administration's policies in the war on terror and its handling of the situation in Iraq.
Pelosi's maneuver required a simple majority of the House to approve.
The National Intelligence Estimate on terrorism is the most recent analysis of the nation's top intelligence analysts who work in 16 different spy agencies. Since its disclosure, the Bush administration has been rebutting suggestions that the analysis finds the U.S. is at greater risk of attack because of the Iraq invasion.
Speaking at a Washington dinner Monday night, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said the report broadly addressed the global terrorist threat, not just the impact of Iraq. He acknowledged that U.S. analysts believe "the Iraq jihad is shaping a new generation of terrorist leaders and operatives."
But he said the war in Iraq remains important to the outcome. "Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves, and be perceived, to have failed, fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight," he said.
The House has only had five closed sessions since 1812, according to the Congressional Research Service.
In the Senate, any single member can take the chamber into closed session. As a result, the chamber has held several dozen secret sessions since 1929, including one last November called by Democrats who wanted to discuss the intelligence used by President Bush in the run-up to the Iraq war.
Pelosi surprised even most of her fellow Democrats in offering the motion. She said she was not trying to use the closed session for political purposes, but rather to discuss a serious assessment that is relevant to Iraq and U.S. national security. She wants to see the administration declassify the document — without using a selective lens.
"Quite frankly, my view is that any responsible declassification will change the course of this debate on Iraq," she said.
Update:
WASHINGTON (AP) Republican-controlled House rejects Democratic motion for a rare closed session to discuss intelligence on terrorism.
"When are we going to prosecute leakers???"
Indeed. The President said there was classified information leaked.
OMG! You're right!
If I were a GOP house member, I would stand on the steps and read aloud, the home phone numbers of every Democrat in the house...
Since we are releasing sensitive data, lets release it all you Liberal Pigs!
Exception: 'Democrats' often exhibit an extreme lack of 'intelligence'.
For real?
I think Pelosi wants a closed session to make it like a "big deal"....so when they come out and report how AWFUL the whole report is....she can claim that Bush was trying to "HIDE" the worst news.
However, she also wants a closed session...just in case the whole report does NOT back up their theory that the report is WORSE than the leaked part....and if the session was closed SHE would save face.
Bingo! I predicted on another thread the Dems would have a flashback back to 2003. See my #155...that 2002 NIE release had NOTHING to do with Wilson's article. In fact, it was released six days after it was complete in Oct 2002 because the Dems requested the release and Tenet complied. That was way before Wilson was a blip on the radar screen.
Is that true? Please, please, please say it is!!
The NIE was "cherry picked" about WMDs according to the Dems, and nnooowwww they want us to believe this?
My guess: Ron Paul.
Very good!!!
I'm pretty sure WSJ meant it was from the Wall Street Journal, which is a member of the DBM.
Oh .. this is SO hysterical ..... omelettes on the faces, RATS. LOL
ROFLMAO! That explains everything!
Ron Paul. Assclown. But I repeat myself.
Ha ha ha.
Pelosi loses.
FOTFLOL
It was Shays.
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