Posted on 11/06/2003 8:37:03 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:11:00 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
WASHINGTON -- The festering quarrel over the Senate investigation into pre-war US intelligence on Iraq flared up yesterday as Republicans and Democrats traded charges of politicizing the probe and engaging in office espionage.
At issue was a draft strategy memorandum written by a Democratic staff member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Leaked to the media Tuesday night, it laid out how the party could steer the probe in an effort to produce the information most damaging to the Bush administration.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Sheesh when I predicted they would want to launch an investigation little did I know.....they would scream Watergate II.....LOL!
Come on Hannity call their bluff!!!!
My esteemed Jr. Senator, Mr. Rockefeller, is among the absolute stupidest members of Congress. But for Rep. Patrick "Patches" Kennedy, D-R.I., he might seize the title.
'Real Feelings'
"The partisan rift over a Senate inquiry into prewar intelligence on Iraq" has "deepened," according to the Associated Press, because of the revelation, which we noted yesterday, of a draft Democratic staff memo outlining ways to use investigation for political gain. Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, the committee's chairman, took to the floor of the Senate yesterday and called the memo "an effort to discredit the committee's work, undermine its conclusions, no matter what those conclusions may be." Fellow Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona said: "I never saw the kind of blatant partisan politics emerge that has apparently emerged as revealed in this memorandum."
The strongest condemnation of the memo, however, comes from a Democrat, Georgia's Sen. Zell Miller, who issued a statement yesterday:
"I have often said that the process in Washington is so politicized and polarized that it can't even be put aside when we're at war. Never has that been proved more true than the highly partisan and perhaps treasonous memo prepared for the Democrats on the Intelligence Committee.
"Of all the committees, this is the one single committee that should unquestionably be above partisan politics. The information it deals with should never, never be distorted, compromised or politicized in any shape, form or fashion. For it involves the lives of our soldiers and our citizens. Its actions should always be above reproach; its words never politicized.
"If what has happened here is not treason, it is its first cousin. The ones responsible--be they staff or elected or both should be dealt with quickly and severely sending a lesson to all that this kind of action will not be tolerated, ignored or excused.
"Heads should roll!"
Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the committee's ranking Democrat, distanced himself from the memo, saying he hadn't approved it and it hadn't been circulated among the senators on the committee. But he didn't exactly repudiate its contents. "It is disturbing that individuals are seeking to score political points and that a draft paper describing the rights of the minority to push for a full and fair review of these issues is being so grossly mischaracterized to try to deflect attention from the real issue," the AP quotes him as saying.
Adds Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat: "If [the memo] expresses the frustration of many senators on this committee that we have created this firewall to protect the administration, then this memo frankly speaks to real feelings." Those who suspect that Democrats would rather indulge their partisan feelings than seriously tend to matters of national security have certainly had their suspicions confirmed.
NOT entirely correct:
http://www.factmonster.com/spot/wtc1.htmlThe Prot Authority (of New York?) ultimately oversaw the building of the WTC and paid for them ...Rockefeller Brainchild
The World Trade Center was conceived in the early 1960s by the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Development Association to revitalize the seedy radio row dominated by electronic stores. Chase Manhattan Bank chairman David Rockefeller, founder of the development association, and his brother, New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, pushed hard for the project, insisting it would benefit the entire city.
In 1962, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey began plans to build the center. Minoru Yamasaki and Associates of Michigan was hired as architect. Eventually, Yamasaki decided on two huge towers. Critics charged that a modern monolith would rob New York of character, ruin the skyline, disrupt television reception, and strain city services. However, the project was approved and construction began in 1966.
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http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/World_Trade_Center_History.html
Of the business opposition, the most visible was a group called the Downtown West Businessmen's Association, representing the retail merchants, many of them small electronics dealers, who were threatened with relocation by the construction. A second group, representing financial district landlords, concerned themselves with the depressing influence on the neighborhood real estate market the colossal project could have. Thus began a series of court challenges to the Trade Center that resulted in decisions for and against the Port Authority until the New York Court of Appeals finally upheld the agency and the U.S. Supreme Court refused in December 1963 to review the matter further.
During this same period, the Port Authority sought major tenants to anchor the complex. With Wagner now supportive, discussion could be opened with the Kennedy administration to relocate the U.S. Customs Bureau into a new 800,000 square foot Customs House. In his public pronouncements, Tobin never missed a chance to link the Trade Center to John Kennedy's trade liberalization and tariff reduction policies. The breakthrough, however, came from Albany in January, 1964, when Rockefeller announced a consolidation of state offices in New York City into 1.9 million square feet of space in the Trade Center.
The Tallest
Five days after securing the state's commitment, the Port Authority revealed its plans for a $525 million, 10 million square foot project consisting of two 110-story towers that would be the tallest buildings on earth.
One thing we can be certain of: If the document was delivered to the New York Times, CNN, or CBS News, we would still not have any public record of it being published.
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