Posted on 02/09/2007 6:19:47 AM PST by SoFloFreeper
A "very damning" report by the Defense Department's inspector general depicts a Pentagon that purposely manipulated intelligence in an effort to link Saddam Hussein to al-Qaida in the runup to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, says the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"That was the argument that was used to make the sale to the American people about the need to go to war," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. He said the Pentagon's work, "which was wrong, which was distorted, which was inappropriate ... is something which is highly disturbing."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
We expect the traitors and defeatists in the liberal media and in the liberal center of powers to hide the truth because the truth will destroy them. However the administration should expose these important facts to the public, facts that show Saddam regime strong relation to terrorism and his continuous work on secret WMD programs.
polls dont prove anything. they just show what people think.
i'f you'd polled 14th century Europe, 99% would have said that the Earth is the center of the universe. that doesnt make it so.
likewise, Saddam may have had a connection with al-Qaida, and he may not have. but I sure as hell am not going to let the OPINION of the American people tell me whether something is true or not.
If only they'd sent Joe Wilson to Iraq after he cleared up all the questions about Nigeria...
He already had the script and could have set us straight over the week end.
(Sarcasm alert probably not necessary)
Misleading title -- looks like the Dems twisted the words in the report.
I have no problem with the decision to use military force to oust Saddam Hussein.
1.) There were known, notorious terrorists living in Iraq under the protection and with the knowledge of the Hussein Regime. People like Abu Nidal and Abbu Abbas, both of whom were directly-DIRECTLY-responsible for the cold-blooded murder of Americans.
2.) The Hussein Regime was openly paying money and providing explosive vests to suicide bombers in the West Bank.
3.) They violated the terms of the cease-fire.
4.) They were firing at our planes constantly.
5.) They possessed and had used NBC weaponry on their foes and their own citizens. Only the stupidest of dumbasses think that somehow they used up their entire supply on the Iranians and the Kurds. Yeah, that's the ticket.
In law enforcement parlance...they had the means, the motive and the ability to provide anything from explosives, money and haven all the way to NBC weaponry to terrorists.
As much as liberals would like us all to forget 9/11, we are not going to do so. It was a watershed event.
In a post 9/11 world, I am gratified the President was not going to wait around for Saddam Hussein to get fed up enough with the status quo to finally get lucky and shoot down one of our planes and parade the pilot through the street while we wrung our hands like the idiot liberals would do.
Or worse, just sit around whining, sending dumbass threatening letters, wringing our hands or prodding the UN to do something other than get fat on Oil For Food money and rape children, while the Hussein Regime started funding terrorists and giving them the means and materials to carry out attacks on America. That includes chemical or biological weapons.
Bush Jr., or someone in his administration, needs to openly proclaim that these lib-weenie cut-and-run Democrats are in fact giving AID and COMFORT to the enemies of the US, Israel, and the entire free world.
I am sick of Bush molly-coddling these cretin hate-filled anti-American types like John Conyers and others, who openly accuse the US of oppressing and terrorizing these third world nations.
Unless Bush Jr. grows some balls and FIGHTS BACK publically, the hatemonger Dem-loving media will continue to pound him relentlessly, over and over right up until his last day in office.
As a (former) member of the media myself, I can assure anyone who cares that it is IMPOSSIBLE to appease the left.
Giving in to the hate-filled Dems only serves to "convince" themselves (in their minds, of course) that it is THEY who are truly entitled to rule over the unwashed masses.
Gotta keep this one...
Amazingly enough, even the Washington Post article is fairer, than this one in the SFC. This is more like the Democrats are trying to make a mountain out of something less than a molehill.
Probe: Prewar intel inappropriate but not illegal
Pentagon report says ex-policy chief gave 'dubious' info to White House
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17051786/
Intelligence provided by former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith to buttress the White House case for invading Iraq included "reporting of dubious quality or reliability" that supported the political views of senior administration officials rather than the conclusions of the intelligence community, according to a report by the Pentagon's inspector general.
In a telephone interview Thursday, Feith emphasized the inspector general's conclusion that his actions, described in the report as "inappropriate," were not unlawful. "This was not 'alternative intelligence assessment,' " he said. "It was from the start a criticism of the consensus of the intelligence community, and in presenting it I was not endorsing its substance."
In interviews with Pentagon investigators, the summary document said, Feith insisted that his activities did not constitute intelligence and that "even if they were, [they] would be appropriate given that they were responding to direction from the Deputy Secretary of Defense."
There's a reason for that. To a competent intelligence analyst and intelligence agency, it's clear that there's no links of any major significance between Saddam and AQ. He's not going out on a limb claiming flimsy, circumstantial evidence that no real analyst would sign his name to.
I don't believe that the Pentagon manipulated intelligence in the way that this article is alleging. What we thought we knew about the WMDs was pretty solid. This Saddam/AQ fluff isn't. That's why the you won't see the President or anyone in the Administration try and sell it.
"a damning defense department report which is very disturbing......"
it seems that only when mr. levin and his minions are in power, and directing all of the activities of humankind, will there be no disturbing reports, no corrupt administrations, no hunger, no strife, no racism, no unhappiness, no war, no hatred.....the sun will shine again and maybe mr. levin will have his glasses un-welded from his nose and he will stop trying to resemble karl marx.
Also Richard Clarke's own book, in describing the aspirin factory in the Sudan that was bombed in 1998, stated that it was owned by an Al Qaeda linked man and that it employed Iraqi scientists. Clarke HIMSELF makes the argument for a link, something that all these people so conveniently overlook.
http://thomasjoscelyn.blogspot.com/2006/04/leaker-al-shifa.html
I quote from the above link:
The original sealed indictment had added that al Qaeda had "reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq." This passage led Clarke, who for years had read intelligence reports on Iraqi-Sudanese cooperation on chemical weapons, to speculate to Berger that a large Iraqi presence at chemical facilities in Khartoum was "probably a direct result of the Iraq-Al Qida agreement." Clarke added that VX nerve precursor traces found near al Shifa were the "exact formula used by Iraq."
Yawn !
Great collection of links, thanks for posting those!
Oh, you should see this; it's the full list:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1698371/posts
bookmark
This is equivalent to their use of the word 'imminent', as in "Saddam Hussein was not an imminent thread as the president has stated." He NEVER said that. He said since 9/11 "we can no longer wait for threats to become imminent."
Bear in mind that his "scoop" comes from the San Francisco CHRONICLE.....'nuff said?
In case you don't have this link, it's a good one with lots of pre-Bush admin quotes from the Clinton admin regarding Saddam and WMD, including statements that Saddam may pass his WMD to terrorists.
There you go, that's all that needs to be known. Now that the Democrats are in power they're going to do what they can to make it appear that their baseless accusations were right all along, while really all they're doing is tossing out the same slander, but this time with titles of authority next to their names.
Unfortunately, their allies at SFGate now present Levin's opinion of a report as if it's gospel truth.
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