Posted on 02/09/2007 12:29:41 AM PST by STARWISE
To the surprise of the Bush administration, the House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously Wednesday night to allow all 435 House members to see the classified version of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq sent to the White House last week. The report is classified in part because it contains information about sources and methods used in intelligence-gathering.
The document will provide fuel for a House debate, scheduled to begin Tuesday, on a resolution of disapproval of President Bush’s plan to boost U.S. troop strength in Iraq. Remarkably, each House member will be given five minutes to speak. The decision to provide such broad access to the microphones is based on the fact that each member got the chance to speak before the Iraq war began, according to House leadership aides.
In announcing the vote to allow all members access to the classified portion of the NIE, the committee said those examining it “will be required to review the document in the Committee's secure offices in the Capitol and sign a secrecy oath.” The members will not be allowed to leave with notes, congressional sources said.
The White House was not informed or consulted about the decision. Such access for members is rare but not unprecedented. The document had been made available to members of several committees with jurisdiction over the intelligence community, but other lawmakers would have needed to request permission to read it. The committee had received written requests from one Republican and one Democrat, plus some other informal inquires, and decided it would be better to allow blanket access instead of voting on each request, congressional sources said.
The report runs about 90 pages, and the Office of the National Intelligence Director released 3 1/2 pages of “Key Judgments” last week. The report, called “Prospects for Iraq’s Stability: A Challenging Road Ahead,” was approved Jan. 29 by the heads of the government’s 16 intelligence agencies. It paints a generally bleak picture of conditions in Iraq and warns that without successful efforts to rein in insurgent violence and political extremism, the overall security situation “will continue to deteriorate” at current rates for the next 12 to 18 months, the period covered by the report.
The decision raised fears among some Republicans that members not used to dealing with classified information might play fast and loose with what they saw. But Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said in a statement: "It is critical that all Members of Congress understand the consensus view of the Intelligence Community on the gravity of the situation in Iraq and the consequences for U.S. troops and our long-term national security interests."
Is there a thread on just this report you posted?
I didn't create one, but you will probably find more about it on these recent threads :
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=feith
Libs have been after Douglas Feith for a long time, he's a "neo-con", you know, and worked closely with Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld. It's all part of "Bush administration mislead us, and lied us into war, or we would never vote the way we did" excuse that they have been cooking up since Kerry's 2004 run.
I'm in total agreement. TO let some of that bunch see Classified INTEL....this is absolutely dangerous! Heaven please help us!!
"I hope the government is prepared to shoot anyone who betrays that secrecy oath."
GMTA
but fat chance I suppose, since we don't shoot people who steal government secrets, let alone imprison them.
I've got a better idea and one that will ultimately accomplish the same end.
Just give the classified document to the media....it's going to be leaked anyway and most likely only those excerpts that appear most damaging to the current administration will be made public.
Unless anti-American legislators and their media cohorts are held accountable for the incremental destruction of our nation, those foreign entities who desire our demise can merely wait patiently for the US to implode and then move in to salvage our resources and technology without concern for political correctness or tolerance of any kind.
God help us all.
EODGUY
Aren't half of those people Republicans?
The House leaks like a sieve.
Just because it's available to them doesn't mean they'll take the time to look at it. Some House members didn't bother reading the evidence against X42 before his impeachment vote. And NONE of the Democrat Senators took the time to read the evidence before their vote on whether or not to convict him after his impeachment.
If the Democrat House members read that the report finds that nothing illegal was done in the run up to the Iraq War, they may not even bother reading what's being made available. What they really want is fodder for an impeachment.
Yes, lets just send all our secrets to our enemies.
I'm sorry, president Txsleuth, I've always learned you never win campaigns by impugning the intelligence of the people who vote for you. And we did win by popular vote for president a number of times (much more than the dems), in 2004, and also in 1992, 1988, 1984, 1980, 1972, 1968.
The only problem for the GOP comes when there is a serious Independent candidate (Perot twice in the 1990s) or scandal (Watergate)
In fact the GOP won the popular vote in 1960, but Nixon (unlike Gore) graciously conceded.
Well, we know over the last 50 years, Leahy and the rest of them have over and again released secret info harming our nation. This will be just one more media explosion to give our national enemies not only a laugh but some valuable info on how we track them. The Dems will be outraged that we actually try to stop Islamofascism. Oh the humanity.
...and down comes the Capitol Dome of Silence ("Don Adams Goes to Washington")
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.