Douglas J. Feith: Tough questions we were right to ask

The Sacramento Bee ^ | Thursday, February 15, 2007 | By Douglas J. Feith

[april15Bendovr]

Douglas J. Feith: Tough questions we were right to ask By Douglas J. Feith - Published 12:00 am PST Thursday, February 15, 2007

Promoters of the "Bush Lied, People Died" line claim that the recent Pentagon inspector general's report concerning my former office's work on Iraq intelligence supports their cause. What the IG actually said is a different story.

The IG, Thomas Gimble, focused on a single Pentagon briefing from 2002 -- a critique of the CIA's work on the Iraq-al-Qaida relationship.

His report concluded that the work my office generated was entirely lawful and authorized, and that Sen. Carl Levin was wrong to allege that we misled Congress.

Gimble made Levin happy, however, by calling the Pentagon briefing "inappropriate," a word the senator has whipped into a political lather. At issue is a simple but critical question: whether policy officials should be free to raise questions about CIA work. In Gimble's opinion, apparently, the answer is no. I disagree.

[Doogle]

RATS and the MSM have always skewed statements...no one holds them accountable, until it's so obvious they have to make a statement to skew even more, thus making them look more ridiculous. NBC has taken the giant leap towards the edge....we'll see *smiles*

[Froufrou]

Good post ping.

[april15Bendovr]

"In evaluating our policy toward Iraq after Sept. 11, 2001, my office realized that CIA analysts were suppressing some of their information. They excluded reports conflicting with their favored theory: that the secular Iraqi Baathist regime would not cooperate with al-Qaida jihadists. (We now face a strategic alliance of jihadists and former Baathists in Iraq.) Pentagon officials did not buy that theory, and in 2002 they gave a briefing that reflected their skepticism. Their aim was not to enthrone a different theory, but to urge the CIA not to exclude any relevant information from what it provided to policymakers. Only four top-level government officials received the briefing: Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, and (together) Stephen Hadley and Lewis "Scooter" Lib"

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting. Outstanding.

Hooray Douglas J. Feith! Hooray Pentagon!

[april15Bendovr]

"Their aim was not to enthrone a different theory, but to urge the CIA not to exclude any relevant information from what it provided to policymakers."

It upsets me that translations from Jveritas and the Docex project were ignored while the final analysis from the 911 Commission, Iraq Study Group and Senate Select Intelligences Committee have been turned into wacky interpretations by Democrats and the Mainstream media.