Posted on 07/14/2003 4:34:57 PM PDT by demlosers
President Bush's 2003 State of the Union Address included the following line: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Name for me what part of that sentence is wrong or "a lie." None of it. Clifford May's National Review piece is a must-read on this topic. The British government has other intelligence - separate from those Niger documents which the French apparently forged to hurt our effort to liberate Iraq - to prove Saddam tried to purchase so-called yellowcake uranium ore from Africa.
Note the president said "Africa," not "Niger." Now all these liberals are acting as if that one line convinced them to support the war. Of course, they never supported it anyway! Furthermore, Bill Clinton and John F. Kerry and all the rest of these Democrats talked about Saddam Hussein's nuclear ambitions as a matter of course for years. So what if this one piece of data, put out there as a red herring by the French and never cited by the president, turned out to be false? This is why CIA Director George Tenet's apology and all these other administration officials rushing to say they're sorry about this makes no sense.
There's not only no reason for Tenet to fall on his sword, there's no reason for a sword! This has become an incredible false story, egged on by stories like the one from CBSNews.com headlined "Bush Knew Iraq Info was False." There's nothing in the actual story that says that or backs it up, yet that's the headline! CBS: "CIA officials warned members of the President’s National Security Council Staff the intelligence was not good enough to make the flat statement Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa." Well, he didn't make that "flat" statement; he attributed it to the UK. Note that the British aren't backing down on the claim Bush cited, so why is the administration? I don't get it.
It's More BIG Theory, New Tone BS
You see what the White House has gotten for their unnecessary apologies? Now Democrats demand that Bush fire Tenet - consequences to a shakeup at the CIA be damned! Of course, it won't matter if Bush does fire him. Tenet's needless hara-kiri has put blood in the water and gotten the Democrats into a feeding frenzy. Stop the bleeding here, Mr. President. It's over nothing! Rumsfeld and Powell and Rice and Tenet should stop bowing at the feet of the left, which seeks nothing but to discredit you in the war with Iraq anyway. (See: Bush Gives Dems Fuel to Run Him Over).
This administrations "new tone" profoundly misunderstands the left. You don't apologize for something you didn't do wrong. The Bush people are obsessed with smashing Bush's credibility and that of the military. Democrats don't care what damage they do to this country - they'll take care of that when they get back in power. To them, nothing could possibly be as bad as Bush continuing in power.
It's unconscionable to me that these Democrats would discredit our intelligence capability, and that the White House would help them do so! It's going to get to the point - if it's not there already - where the CIA gives the president some intelligence, and nobody's going to believe it because the Democrats have gone along with this kook theory that he's distorting it for his own aims. Don't chalk this up to criticism of Bush from old El Rushbo. This is a warning.
I think Rush has got this wrong. Having Tenet give his apology wasn't motivated by any kind of 'New Tone' strategy. Having Tenet apologize was motivated by the fact that people in the CIA were coming out and undercutting Bush by contending that he hadn't listened to what CIA officials told him. Bush was understandably annoyed at this backbiting by people who worked for Tenet because the accusations were utterly and completely false. So I think Tenet was given a choice. He could either back the people who were undercutting Bush or he could he keep his job and apologize.
Me either.
The administration also is pointing out what we have said: That the British stand by their information.
That's good. I haven't seen or heard that anywhere.
I don't see a need for that. It was information he had reason to trust and it still is. What the President said was not and is not incorrect. The liberal press is lying ... period!
Yes, they are. It is disgraceful and disgusting.
I posted the other day CNN and probably MSNBC are most likely getting special "SCANDAL!" graphics and music all salted away to pull out----they hope.
Wankers and clymers.
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