"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Jeff Rigby wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
For years I have been maintaining that the Bush Administration did NOT
let members of Congress see the same intel it had during its buildup to
the war against Iraq.

Now comes an article in the Washington Post that validates my posit:

Asterisks Dot White House's Iraq Argument

By Dana Milbank and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, November 12, 2005; A01

President Bush and his national security adviser have answered critics
of the Iraq war in recent days with a two-pronged argument: that
Congress saw the same intelligence the administration did before the
war, and that independent commissions have determined that the
administration did not misrepresent the intelligence.

Neither assertion is wholly accurate.

...

But Bush and his aides had access to much more voluminous intelligence
information than did lawmakers, who were dependent on the administration
to provide the material. And the commissions cited by officials, though
concluding that the administration did not pressure intelligence
analysts to change their conclusions, were not authorized to determine
whether the administration exaggerated or distorted those conclusions.

National security adviser Stephen J. Hadley, briefing reporters
Thursday, countered "the notion that somehow this administration
manipulated the intelligence." He said that "those people who have
looked at that issue, some committees on the Hill in Congress, and also
the Silberman-Robb Commission, have concluded it did not happen."

But the only committee investigating the matter in Congress, the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence, has not yet done its inquiry into
whether officials mischaracterized intelligence by omitting caveats and
dissenting opinions. And Judge Laurence H. Silberman, chairman of Bush's
commission on weapons of mass destruction, said in releasing his report
on March 31, 2005: "Our executive order did not direct us to deal with
the use of intelligence by policymakers, and all of us were agreed that
that was not part of our inquiry."

Bush, in Pennsylvania yesterday, was more precise, but he still implied
that it had been proved that the administration did not manipulate
intelligence, saying that those who suggest the administration
"manipulated the intelligence" are "fully aware that a bipartisan Senate
investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the
intelligence community's judgments."

In the same speech, Bush asserted that "more than 100 Democrats in the
House and the Senate, who had access to the same intelligence, voted to
support removing Saddam Hussein from power." Giving a preview of Bush's
speech, Hadley had said that "we all looked at the same intelligence."

****But Bush does not share his most sensitive intelligence, such as the
President's Daily Brief, with lawmakers. Also, the National Intelligence
Estimate summarizing the intelligence community's views about the threat
from Iraq was given to Congress just days before the vote to authorize
the use of force in that country.****

In addition, there were doubts within the intelligence community not
included in the NIE. And even the doubts expressed in the NIE could not
be used publicly by members of Congress because the classified
information had not been cleared for release. For example, the NIE view
that Hussein would not use weapons of mass destruction against the
United States or turn them over to terrorists unless backed into a
corner was cleared for public use only a day before the Senate vote.

Harry, the last paragraph says it all, "Saddam won't use the WMD unless
backed into a corner" That statement assumes quite strongly that he HAS
WMD!!!!! Further, history shows us that anyone who opposes him is a
target for WMD (Kurds, Iranians) or assassination (Bush I) so it means
that he fears our retaliation if he uses them against us. If you
remember, our troops, the Israelis and Kuwaitis were issued gas masks and
there were air raid sirens going on and people putting mask on during the
nightly news during the ramp up to the war. So we were expecting him to
use some form of gas attack.

NOT true (subject of this message)


There have been more revelations about the intel the Bush Administration
did not share with Democratic members of Congress. This is another news
story that is going to dog Bush, who is now in the People's Republic of
China to see how many more American jobs he can give away. Or whatever he
is doing over there.

I'd like to see that as I'm under the impression that the President can't
keep Intel from congress, the CIA can reclassify info as eyes only and make
the case that even congress can't see the info but the President can't keep
congress from seeing the Intel (they are co-equal branches of government. )
As I understand the issue, the intelligence committee then only allows two
members (or fewer members can see the Intel) of the committee to see the
Intel.