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Top White House Aide Takes Responsibility For Niger Uranium Claim.
The Bulletin's Frontrunner | 22 July 2003

Posted on 07/23/2003 11:42:53 AM PDT by Wallaby

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Top White House Aide Takes Responsibility For Niger Uranium Claim.
The Bulletin's Frontrunner
July 23, 2003 Wednesday

CBS (7/22, story 4, Roberts) reports that "the White House's troubles aren't over yet. Today, deputy national security adviser Steven Hadley said it was his fault that statement ended up in the State of the Union. Over the weekend the White House uncovered a couple of memos to Hadley from CIA Director George Tenet warning back in October that that intelligence was dubious. Today, Hadley said he forgot about those memos and failed in his responsibility to ensure that the State of the Union was sound."

USA Today (7/23, Keen) reports, "Hadley's admission, made in a rare briefing with reporters, shifts culpability for the error back to the White House. The newly discovered memos are sure to perpetuate the controversy and prompt demands from Congress for the resignations or firings of officials involved in the matter."

The Washington Post (7/23, A1, Milbank, Pincus) reports that the new information "significantly alters the explanation previously offered by the White House." The Post adds, "Yesterday's disclosures indicate top White House officials knew that the CIA seriously disputed the claim that Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium in Africa long before the claim was included in Bush's January address to the nation."

The Wall Street Journal (7/23, Cummings) reports that "the revelations likely will fuel Democratic calls for an independent investigation and give new life to a controversy the administration had hoped was behind it." Sen. John Kerry "called on Mr. Bush to 'take responsibility for using flawed intelligence.'"

Rockefeller Says He Suspects Cheney Aide Pressured Intelligence Agencies.

On MSNBC's Hardball (7/22), host Chris Matthews asked Sen. John Rockefeller, "Do you believe it is the case that Scooter Libby, his chief of staff, and the vice president have been putting pressure on the CIA, intelligence agencies to come up with the right argument for the war with Iraq to justify the war?" Rockefeller said, "I do not know that, but I suspect it. And I think that's what this is all -- a lot of this has been about, is the shaping of the speech and intelligence committee to produce a product that will please the top echelons of the White House. That's dangerous."

Some Democrats Angry Rockefeller's "Moderate Tone" Undermines Attacks On Bush.

Roll Call (7/23, Pierce) reports, "Sen. Jay Rockefeller's (W.Va.) unwillingness to consult Senate Democratic leaders on his strategy for tackling the White House's potential misuse of intelligence data is raising the hackles of some in his Caucus who fear a lack of a coordinated message could foil Democratic attempts to take full political advantage of the situation. 'He's not the team player we need him to be,' one senior Senate Democratic aide said of the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee."

Bill Clinton Says Bush's "Mistakes" Understandable.

The AP (7/23) reports, "Bush's erroneous reference to an Iraqi-Africa uranium link was understandable, former President Clinton said Tuesday, in part because Saddam Hussein's regime had not accounted for some weapons by the time Clinton ended his term in 2001. Clinton's comments reinforce one of the pillars of Bush's defense of the war in Iraq -- that his Democratic predecessor was never satisfied that Saddam had rid himself of weapons of mass destruction."

Durbin Says White House Falsely Accusing Him Of Intelligence Leak.

Roll Call (7/23, Preston) reports, "Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) sharply criticized the White House on Tuesday of falsely accusing him of leaking sensitive intelligence information and leading a campaign to discredit him for speaking out against the administration's handling of the Iraqi war. Using the Senate floor to air his grievance before a national television audience, Durbin claimed White House press officials told reporters Friday that Republican Senators were considering taking steps to try to remove him from the Intelligence Committee -- an action supported by the administration -- for speaking publicly about a closed- door briefing with CIA Director George Tenet."

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TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: cia; iraq; niger; stephenhadley; stevenhadley; yellowcake
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Is the White House trying to keep this story alive? Just when news was gradually leaking out of the role of French intelligence and the unimportance of the forged documents (see French Uncovered Niger Link), we have someone in the White House calling attention back to the "16 words."
1 posted on 07/23/2003 11:42:54 AM PDT by Wallaby
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To: Wallaby
Maybe enough Democrats haven't fallen into the trap yet.
2 posted on 07/23/2003 11:47:29 AM PDT by My2Cents ("Well....there you go again.")
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To: Wallaby
Where are those adults in charge? Frum took the hit for the 'axis of evil' speechmaking.
3 posted on 07/23/2003 11:52:59 AM PDT by ex-snook (American jobs need BALANCED TRADE. We buy from you, you buy from us.)
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To: Wallaby
deputy national security adviser Steven Hadley said it was his fault that statement ended up in the State of the Union.

A bit of devils advocate here, but the liberals are now gonna jump on this, accusing bush of forcing this guy to take the fall on that statement. Look for liberals asking the question :"Whatever happened to the buck stops here?" (and I will be happy to retort to them that Reno took the blame for Waco, and they happily accepted that.)

4 posted on 07/23/2003 11:52:59 AM PDT by lowbridge (Rob: "I see a five letter word. F-R-E-E-P. Freep." Jerry: "Freep? What's that?" - Dick Van Dyke Show)
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To: lowbridge
and I will be happy to retort to them that Reno took the blame for Waco, and they happily accepted that...

Yes, but didn't Reno take the blame pretty quick? Like just after it happened? How long has this story been alive?

I'm not trying to blame Bush or the White House staff. But it seems like it did take a long time for Hadley to speak up...

5 posted on 07/23/2003 11:59:02 AM PDT by Corin Stormhands (HHD)
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To: Wallaby; phasma proeliator
Man, I hope the PC crowd doesn't get a hold of that title... you'd think someone would've caught it.
6 posted on 07/23/2003 12:12:05 PM PDT by da_toolman (Closed Captioning provided for the posting impaired.)
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To: My2Cents
>Maybe enough Democrats haven't fallen into the trap yet.

Ha! Nice twist. I agree that there is a trap here for the Democrats (but I'm not convinced the White House is setting it). What is the trap? Well, it is not the potential problem of a subsequent charge of inconsistency for having believed Clinton in 1998. Rush today was convinced that Clinton's apparent magnanimity toward Bush's State of the Union "mistake" was only for fear that the press or historians would point to his 1998 speech warning of Iraqi nuclear capabilities (not just programs) and note the inconsistency. The press, however, do not give a hoot about Clinton's being inconsistent and would never point it out in any event. The fear that Clinton rightly has is that the public will soon learn much of the true capabilities of Saddam's regime, and the last ones singing the "Bush lied" tune will look very stupid.

7 posted on 07/23/2003 12:12:13 PM PDT by Wallaby
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To: Wallaby
Dated July 22
8 posted on 07/23/2003 12:13:25 PM PDT by mabelkitty
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To: mabelkitty
The CBS story was 7/22. The Bulletin's Frontrunner, a compilation of many sources, was from today.
9 posted on 07/23/2003 12:18:11 PM PDT by Wallaby
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To: da_toolman
This whole Niger Uranium story is so much b.s. First off, it is so boring that the normal everyday person could not understand it if they tried. As a political/news junkie myself, I find myself falling to sleep every time it comes on. So now instead I just use the mute button or remote to change the channel. Chrissy Matthews is especially bad on this one. He has gone totally over the edge with glee thinking that he can personally sink the Bush Administration.
10 posted on 07/23/2003 12:20:09 PM PDT by LB4BUSH
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To: Wallaby
The libs have me very very irritated.

All they ever do is go on this red herring hunts. They would do anything and everything to undercut our military gains on Iraq...over a few measly sentences. Our enemies are laughing at us. I guess they have gone and found their Niger in the woodpile, what with these new apologies. What a mess.

11 posted on 07/23/2003 12:20:19 PM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (Still think the Administration's BIG failure was not to dispense with N.Korea before Iraq!)
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To: Wallaby
I think you're right, and I'll add that probably the LAST thing Clinton wants is a congressional or an independent investigation into Bush's "16 words," because such an investigation will inevitably lead to Clinton's previous comments about Iraq's nuclear program (which, BTW, Mark Levin has an excellent article on over at National Review Online).
12 posted on 07/23/2003 12:20:42 PM PDT by My2Cents ("Well....there you go again.")
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To: Corin Stormhands
Yes, but didn't Reno take the blame pretty quick? Like just after it happened? How long has this story been alive? I'm not trying to blame Bush or the White House staff. But it seems like it did take a long time for Hadley to speak up...

The timing of the speaking up part isnt so important, IMHO.

13 posted on 07/23/2003 12:22:42 PM PDT by lowbridge (Rob: "I see a five letter word. F-R-E-E-P. Freep." Jerry: "Freep? What's that?" - Dick Van Dyke Show)
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To: My2Cents
>...probably the LAST thing Clinton wants is a congressional or an independent investigation into Bush's "16 words," because such an investigation will inevitably lead to Clinton's previous comments about Iraq's nuclear program

Here, you are going in the direction that Rush was going in his show today, and away from my position. Clinton's 1998 speech leaves him vulnerable only if subsequent investigation shows that he and Bush were both wrong about the extent of Saddam's capabilities. I think Clinton is no less convinced than ever that Bush will eventually be vindicated on the issue of Iraq's threat to us. (Clinton even argued, in an interview with David Letterman before the invasion of Iraq, that our attack risked a biological counterattack on our cities). Should the evidence of Saddam's weapons be disclosed, it will be Clinton himself who will be pointing back to that 1998 speech to show how prescient he was.

14 posted on 07/23/2003 12:38:20 PM PDT by Wallaby
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To: lowbridge
The timing of the speaking up part isnt so important, IMHO.

From a perception standpoint it is. You know, they had to look around to find someone to blame...first it was Tenet, now Hadley...That's all I'm sayin'. Don't get me wrong, I'm with the President. I'm just playin' Devil's advocate.

(is your Dick Van Dyke tagline an actual reference? And was it the show with the walnuts?)

15 posted on 07/23/2003 12:38:30 PM PDT by Corin Stormhands (HHD)
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To: Wallaby; All
As I said on the other thread about this, Hadley was in the other Bush admin.

He was with the Scowcroft group.

He is heavy into Star Wars and nukes.

He aint no babe in the woods.

No way he forgot.

I'm just gonna go google till I figure out whats up.

16 posted on 07/23/2003 3:01:05 PM PDT by Betty Jo
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To: Wallaby
I agree that there is a trap here for the Democrats (but I'm not convinced the White House is setting it). What is the trap? Well, it is not the potential problem of a subsequent charge of inconsistency for having believed Clinton in 1998.

Since when have the Democrats cared about consistancy?

I can name numerous issues on which Dems have totally reversed previous positions in order to attack Bush.
They do it all the time.

17 posted on 07/23/2003 3:05:08 PM PDT by Jorge
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To: Wallaby
In the fall of 1941, FDR unveiled in a public press conference a map showing alleged Nazi plans for domination of Latin America. The map was totally bogus, having been concocted by the British intelligence office in NYC, and FDR knew that the map was bogus. FDR did this in his campaign to get Congress to repeal the Neutrality Laws, which Congress eventually did (by a very close vote.) This was a major step towards U.S. entry into World War Two. Not too many people hold this particular piece of deviousness against FDR.
18 posted on 07/23/2003 3:08:42 PM PDT by aristeides
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To: Corin Stormhands
From a perception standpoint it is. You know, they had to look around to find someone to blame...first it was Tenet, now Hadley...That's all I'm sayin'. Don't get me wrong, I'm with the President. I'm just playin' Devil's advocate.

Ah! But I'll be debating liberals with it. When I ask them what the hell timing has to do with it, they'll have no answer. (I hope)

(is your Dick Van Dyke tagline an actual reference? And was it the show with the walnuts?)

Yes, it's an actual reference. No, it's not from the famous "walnuts" episode. p>

Rob: Oh, I see an easy five letter word right away, F-R-E-E-P. Freep. 
Jerry: Freep? What's that? 
- The Dick Van Dyke Show
Episode title: A Man's Teeth Are Not His Own
Original Air date: Dec. 19, 1962 
Episode number 43 (13th episode of the 2nd season) 

The episode is about Rob's best friend, and next door neighbor, Jerry (and Rob's Dentist) going on vacation. While Jerry is away, Rob loses a filling, and is in complete pain. As a result, he's forced to see another dentist to fic his teeth. Jerry comes back from vacation, and Rob is due for his check-up. However, Rob feels so guilty about seeing another dentist while his friend was away that he does whatever he can to prevent Jerry from seeing his teeth. In any case, the tagline comes at the end of the episode where Jerry, Millie, Rob and Laura are playing a game of scrabble. It is in that scene that Rob says the above lines.

19 posted on 07/23/2003 5:43:40 PM PDT by lowbridge (Rob: "I see a five letter word. F-R-E-E-P. Freep." Jerry: "Freep? What's that?" - Dick Van Dyke Show)
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To: aristeides; Fred Mertz; Wallaby; All
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/woolsey.1.html

This is perhaps what I am loking for re: Steve Hadley.

He was with "Shea and Gardner"

So was James Woolsey.

Shea and Gardner is the foreign agent for the "Iraqi National Congress"

Since Hadley is a nuke weapon expert , I knew he couldnt have "forgot" what the CIA told him about uranium.

Now I think I know why he "FORGOT"!

20 posted on 07/24/2003 12:17:26 AM PDT by Betty Jo
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