Statement from John Kerry on CIA Director George Tenet’s Speech at Georgetown University

JohnKerry.com ^ | February 5, 2004 | John Kerry

[Shermy]

February 05, 2004

For Immediate Release

“Today, the CIA Director, George Tenet, admitted that the intelligence agencies never told the White House that Iraq posed an imminent threat. But that’s not what the Bush White House told the American people. They said Iraq posed a ‘mortal threat,’ an ‘urgent threat,’ an ‘immediate threat,’ a ‘serious threat,’ and, yes, an ‘imminent threat’ to the people of the United States.

“Today, we found out that George Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and the rest of the Administration weren’t passing on sound facts on Iraq to the American people - they were playing politics with our national security.

“Americans should be able to trust that what the President tells them is true - especially when it comes to the life and death decisions of war and peace.

“We need to restore America’s credibility around the world and the trust of the American people in their government at home. That’s not going to happen with a sham commission hand-picked by George Bush to look into how these faulty facts on Iraq made it to the American people. It’s not going to happen while the Bush White House continues its stalling and stonewalling. What we need is for this President to take responsibility - to face the truth - and to finally tell the truth to the American people. And we need that now.”

[Dan from Michigan]

And you Jane Fonda Kerry need to tell the truth about your Communist past.

[sandpit]

What a lying douche-bag!

.

[dc-zoo]

John F'n Kerry aka Conehead. Nation of origin: France.

[Ragirl]

Did anyone here expect ketchup boy to say anything else? He's so predictable.....and if one repeats a lie long enough, they'll get dim people to believe it.

[Howlin]

When I was listening to CBS cover Bush's "AWOL problem" last night, I wondered if they'd ever tell the whole truth about Kerry.

[Michael Barnes]

Where are "they" thinking the preident made the "Imminent Threat" comment?? In what speech?

[narby]

The Response should be: Kerry is trying to turn victory into defeat, like he did in Vietnam.

In 1973, No. Vietnam came to us and signed a peace agreement. The anti-war Dems, led by John Kerry, turned victory into defeat in 1975 when they refused to allow US help of So. Vietnam.

Millions of people died as a result, and Kerry has blood on his hands.

[Howlin]

The SOTU 2002, from what I gather. I've just to see any of them give the exact quote.

[Natural Law]

Kerry is currently unchallenged by his political opposition and is getting a free pass from the press. Half of that will change when W goes into full campaign mode and Kerry will not hold up under the assault.

His war hero status really doesn't matter to the Dems so he can't expect any more consideration for his war hero satus than the Dems gave to Dole.

[Zeroisanumber]

For information, this is what they're hitting us on:

When White House communications director Dan Bartlett was asked before the war whether Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat, he responded, "Of course he is." When White House spokesman Scott McClellan was asked why NATO (and thus the United States) should support Turkey's request for defensive troops, he responded, "This is about an imminent threat." When White House spokesman Ari Fleischer was asked whether the invasion of Iraq was because Iraq was an imminent threat, he responded, "Absolutely."

The president said before the war that Iraq was an "urgent threat" and a "grave threat" to "any American." In his speech informing Americans that the invasion had started, the President said Iraq "threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder."

In this case, the exact way that the response was phrased matters less than what was implied. It seems that Tenent has gotten tired of the CIA being the Media's whipping boy and is trying to spread the blame around.

[jwalsh07]

Kerry has some of Slicks propensity for lying. It must be a gene in democrats.

[Shermy]

Press spokesmen weren't trained in the art of the wording.

I've never seen so much axe grinding and disinformation about words in different uses.

I think it will pass most voters.

[Michael Barnes]

Here's 2002's and 2003's.

I can't find it anywhere.

From 2003

Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option.

"bout the only thing I could find that would relate...

2002 doesn't even have the word imminent in it, unless my word search is completely busted.

I'd like to know where "they" (media, et al) are getting this from...

[Zeroisanumber]

The Fleischer quote is the most damaging, but I think that the strategy is to force GWB into semantic hair-splitting that makes him look like he has something to hide. For all his merits, GW isn't the man to call on when you need to play think-on-your-feet word games in front of a camera; if Kerry can force him into a corner (say, in the Presidential Debates) then this might really hurt us.

[Michael Barnes]

I believe this is the speech when Iraq kicked off..Still can't find the quote.

[WOSG]

“Today, we found out that [FILL IN THE BLANk] weren’t passing on sound facts ... to the American people - they were playing politics with our national security." -John Kerry one of the Demorats who have for months politicized our national security and foreign policy with rabid attacks against our President and the conduct of the war in Iraq.

POT, KETTLE, BLACK.

[Smber]

Actually, the cause was lost in early 1973 when the Democrat controlled Congress voted to withdraw funding for the war effort. There are a lot of leftists who have blood on their hands.

[BigSkyFreeper]

They said Iraq posed a ‘mortal threat,’ an ‘urgent threat,’ an ‘immediate threat,’ a ‘serious threat,’ and, yes, an ‘imminent threat’ to the people of the United States.

Poppycock. Bush said Iraq was a "growing threat" and then Democrats wanted to see a smoking gun, Bush countered with "a smoking gun could be a mushroom cloud over a city".

Kerry is grasping for straws.

[BigSkyFreeper]

It was the Democrats who said that Iraq was an imminent threat, in a letter to President Clinton in 1998.

[CougarGA7]

When did Tom Daschle dress up as a clown?