President: Asked about leaks says that after we liberated Iraq there were questions about the basis of the war and I declassified the document for a reason. I wanted people to see the truth and that's why I declassifed the document.
I thought I could declassify without jeopardizing
ongoing intel operations.
President: The issue on most American's minds is the issue of China. The relationship with China is positive and complex. It's positive because we do have dialog and the Chinese leadership sit down and we have frank discussions about a variety of issues. Our side discusses fairness and trade and freedom of religion and human rights.
It would be helpful if the S. Koreans and Japanese had better relationships so we encourage more dialog between the parties.
FYI...the statement the MSM has been making:
On July 18, 2003, the administration, facing criticism for the intelligence used to justify the war, declassified an eight-page part of the NIE dubbed "key judgments" and conducted a lengthy background briefing with reporters to discuss it.“Key judgments" is the operative word here. They were declassified by Tenet in October of 2002, six days after the NIE was complete per the following information:
On October 7, 2002 DCI Tenet sent a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee declassifying portions of its new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq.
Another article:
A 25-page version of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was released in October 2002. It made clear-cut statements about Iraq's nuclear, biological and chemical weapons capabilities in two pages of "Key Judgments."A copy of the Key Judgments document can be found here. Warning: .pdf file.
As usual, the MSM gets it wrong. More info I just found:
The American people needed to know these reservations, and I requested that an unclassified, public version of the NIE be prepared. On Oct. 4, Tenet presented a 25-page document titled "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs."The Dems asked for the release and Tenet signed off on it.- Statement of Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL).
Which mountain you ask?
The one where he finally speaks forthrightly to the American people.
He spoke about the danger of terrorism and went on about how he has to, as leader of the country, pay attention to what is said. IE-if Iran says they have nuclear weapons, he has to think it's true. HE then went on about why he had to react to 9-11 quickly because he knew more terrorist attacks would come.
Anyway, this is what I'd like to hear the President say. Just once:
"Look at the attacks on our country on September 11. That was an attack meant to destroy this country. Think about it. No military on the planet can defeat the American army. The only way they could bring this country down is by targeting very selective targets.Now wouldn't it be nice to hear the President of the United States say the above? Just once?What was attacked on September 11? Two very important icons of the American economy. Strike one, destroy the American economy.
Next target-the pentagon. Strike two, destroy the country's center of military control. This way America can't strike back and it could take ages to get the military up to snuff again.
Next target-the congress or white house, we don't know. Strike three-destroy the center of the country's government. Recall that congress was very much in session on 9-11. Kill as large a number of the designated leaders in possible and the third strike is delivered: the populace panics, chaos ensues, no leaders can be re-designated for the confusion.
So with the economy in a plummet, the military unable to respond and no leadership accompanied by a panicked populace, boom, it's easy for takeover.
Well it's how I see 9-11 so I least I got that out.