let's just take the president at his word for a minute.
if the administration believed that niger was in the black market plutonium business, what were they doing about it? apparently nothing, since anything they would be doing about it would be done via the state department or the cia, and they are both on the record of not believing the intelligence.
now if niger is selling plutonium to iraq they are no doubt willing to sell it to anyone anywhere, making them a nation-sponser of terrorism. and yet the administration did nothing about it.
that is if you take the president at his word.
they're explanation is a house of cards, and frankly i thought these guys were smarter than that.
I'm surprise President Cheney didn't include Niger more in the build up over the past year.* Then again pakistan wasn't included in the list and they WERE selling nookie fuel stuff.
*wait, why should anyone be surpirsed? Since they KNEW the niger claim was elephunt dung in quality.
If you watch the Sunday shows tomorrow, watch to see which if any of the hosts asks an administration guest this question: If Tenet and the CIA are guilty of not pushing hard enough to keep bogus or 'highly dubious' information out of the State of the Union speech, who was pushing on the other side?
Read Tenet's 'mea culpa' (self-criticism session?) closely and you'll see it points right back at Condi Rice's NSC.
As noted in yesterday's post, we have a pretty clear idea what the interplay was between the CIA and the White House. The CIA expressed reservations about the Niger-uranium claims. The White House pressed to keep it in. Officials at the NSC, by several accounts, suggested getting around the CIA's reservations by using public statements by the British government as a figleaf -- even though the CIA believed the British assessment was incorrect.
Whose hands are dirtier? The folks who caved in to pressure and signed off on that figleaf? Or the folks who pressed for it?
I think the thing that discouraged me about the vice president was uttering those famous words, 'no controlling legal authority.' I felt like that there needed to be a better sense of responsibility of what was going on in the White House. I believe that--I believe they've moved that sign, 'The buck stops here,' from the Oval Office desk to 'The buck stops here' on the Lincoln Bedroom, and that's not good for the country.
George W. Bush
October 3rd, 2000
President Bush on Friday put responsibility squarely on the CIA for his erroneous claim that Iraq tried to acquire nuclear material from Africa, prompting the director of intelligence to publicly accept full blame for the miscue.
and now they're outing cia operatives as punishment or forewarning to any spook who may decide to come forward with anti-administration information.
from the article:
Quote:
Soon after Wilson disclosed his trip in the media and made the White House look bad. the payback came. Novak's July 14, 2003, column presented the back-story on Wilson's mission and contained the following sentences: "Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate" the allegation.
Wilson caused problems for the White House, and his wife was outed as an undercover CIA officer. Wilson says, "I will not answer questions about my wife. This is not about me and less so about my wife. It has always been about the facts underpinning the President's statement in the state of the union speech."
So he will neither confirm nor deny that his wife--who is the mother of three-year-old twins--works for the CIA. But let's assume she does. That would seem to mean that the Bush administration has screwed one of its own top-secret operatives in order to punish Wilson or to send a message to others who might challenge it.
Right that. that's them family values they always speak of. With a big helping of "honesty and integrity"
this is un-American.
This is starting to sound like the are trying to take a cue from Nixon.
Sickening.
well....
Quote:
Mr. Rumsfeld resigned from Congress in 1969 during his fourth term to join the President's (nixon) Cabinet. From 1969 to 1970, he served as Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity and Assistant to the President. From 1971 to 1972, he was Counsellor to the President and Director of the Economic Stabilization Program. In 1973, he left Washington, DC, to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium (1973-1974).
and:
Quote:
Mr. Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on January 30, 1941 and grew up in Casper, Wyoming. He earned his bachelor's and master's of arts degrees from the University of Wyoming. His career in public service began in 1969 when he joined the Nixon Administration, serving in a number of positions at the Cost of Living Council, at the Office of Economic Opportunity, and within the White House.
When Bush was inaugurated as president, HE SWORE UNDER OATH to uphold the duties of the presidency...and so on etc etc. One of the duties of the presidency is to make an annual state of the union address. In the most recent state of the union address, the president liedto the nation about "uranium imports from Niger" as well as other "information" about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Bush claimed to have the best intelligence. That intelligence was incorrect, and Bush knew all along. He lied under oath. Impeachment is the next step.
When Bush was inaugurated as president, HE SWORE UNDER OATH to uphold the duties of the presidency...and so on etc etc. One of the duties of the presidency is to make an annual state of the union address. In the most recent state of the union address, the president liedto the nation about "uranium imports from Niger" as well as other "information" about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Bush claimed to have the best intelligence. That intelligence was incorrect, and Bush knew all along. He lied under oath. Impeachment is the next step.
I also remember him saying that he was going to "restore HONOR and INTEGRITY to the White House. I guess it depends on what your definition of "honor" and "integrity" is.
that's what my gut is saying as well. she was very vocal the day before the tenent "admission".
Sure. The problem with that kind of high-profile resignation (or Powell, or whomever), would be that all the admin does (or any admin, for that matter) is hire them as an independent consultant. That way they exist outside of any congressional oversight (ahem, Rove).
Comments
if the administration believed that niger was in the black market plutonium business, what were they doing about it? apparently nothing, since anything they would be doing about it would be done via the state department or the cia, and they are both on the record of not believing the intelligence.
now if niger is selling plutonium to iraq they are no doubt willing to sell it to anyone anywhere, making them a nation-sponser of terrorism. and yet the administration did nothing about it.
that is if you take the president at his word.
they're explanation is a house of cards, and frankly i thought these guys were smarter than that.
I'm surprise President Cheney didn't include Niger more in the build up over the past year.* Then again pakistan wasn't included in the list and they WERE selling nookie fuel stuff.
*wait, why should anyone be surpirsed? Since they KNEW the niger claim was elephunt dung in quality.
partial text:
If you watch the Sunday shows tomorrow, watch to see which if any of the hosts asks an administration guest this question: If Tenet and the CIA are guilty of not pushing hard enough to keep bogus or 'highly dubious' information out of the State of the Union speech, who was pushing on the other side?
Read Tenet's 'mea culpa' (self-criticism session?) closely and you'll see it points right back at Condi Rice's NSC.
As noted in yesterday's post, we have a pretty clear idea what the interplay was between the CIA and the White House. The CIA expressed reservations about the Niger-uranium claims. The White House pressed to keep it in. Officials at the NSC, by several accounts, suggested getting around the CIA's reservations by using public statements by the British government as a figleaf -- even though the CIA believed the British assessment was incorrect.
Whose hands are dirtier? The folks who caved in to pressure and signed off on that figleaf? Or the folks who pressed for it?
------------------
Good question...
I think the thing that discouraged me about the vice president was uttering those famous words, 'no controlling legal authority.' I felt like that there needed to be a better sense of responsibility of what was going on in the White House. I believe that--I believe they've moved that sign, 'The buck stops here,' from the Oval Office desk to 'The buck stops here' on the Lincoln Bedroom, and that's not good for the country.
George W. Bush
October 3rd, 2000
President Bush on Friday put responsibility squarely on the CIA for his erroneous claim that Iraq tried to acquire nuclear material from Africa, prompting the director of intelligence to publicly accept full blame for the miscue.
Associated Press
July 11th, 2003
from the article:
Soon after Wilson disclosed his trip in the media and made the White House look bad. the payback came. Novak's July 14, 2003, column presented the back-story on Wilson's mission and contained the following sentences: "Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate" the allegation.
Wilson caused problems for the White House, and his wife was outed as an undercover CIA officer. Wilson says, "I will not answer questions about my wife. This is not about me and less so about my wife. It has always been about the facts underpinning the President's statement in the state of the union speech."
So he will neither confirm nor deny that his wife--who is the mother of three-year-old twins--works for the CIA. But let's assume she does. That would seem to mean that the Bush administration has screwed one of its own top-secret operatives in order to punish Wilson or to send a message to others who might challenge it.
this is un-American.
This is starting to sound like the are trying to take a cue from Nixon.
Sickening.
Originally posted by keyboardf12
Right that. that's them family values they always speak of. With a big helping of "honesty and integrity"
this is un-American.
This is starting to sound like the are trying to take a cue from Nixon.
Sickening.
well....
Mr. Rumsfeld resigned from Congress in 1969 during his fourth term to join the President's (nixon) Cabinet. From 1969 to 1970, he served as Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity and Assistant to the President. From 1971 to 1972, he was Counsellor to the President and Director of the Economic Stabilization Program. In 1973, he left Washington, DC, to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium (1973-1974).
and:
Mr. Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on January 30, 1941 and grew up in Casper, Wyoming. He earned his bachelor's and master's of arts degrees from the University of Wyoming. His career in public service began in 1969 when he joined the Nixon Administration, serving in a number of positions at the Cost of Living Council, at the Office of Economic Opportunity, and within the White House.
"THEY'RE NIXON BUDDIES!!!"
Originally posted by bunge
This is troubling.
What? A site under maintenance?
Originally posted by sammi jo
When Bush was inaugurated as president, HE SWORE UNDER OATH to uphold the duties of the presidency...and so on etc etc. One of the duties of the presidency is to make an annual state of the union address. In the most recent state of the union address, the president liedto the nation about "uranium imports from Niger" as well as other "information" about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Bush claimed to have the best intelligence. That intelligence was incorrect, and Bush knew all along. He lied under oath. Impeachment is the next step.
I also remember him saying that he was going to "restore HONOR and INTEGRITY to the White House. I guess it depends on what your definition of "honor" and "integrity" is.
This is troubling.
Yes it is. And actually, I hope derbin is somehow wrong or misunderstood because if this is true, then we have something that smells like a cover up.
Maybe a karl rove retirement as an offering....to appease the public will be the next signal we see.
Originally posted by keyboardf12
Yes it is. And actually, I hope derbin is somehow wrong or misunderstood because if this is true, then we have something that smells like a cover up.
Maybe a karl rove retirement as an offering....to appease the public will be the next signal we see.
It seems to do more than smell like a cover-up.
Originally posted by keyboardf12
Maybe a karl rove retirement as an offering....to appease the public will be the next signal we see.
I just noticed this. I don't this this will happen. Ever.
that would be like Junior cutting off his right arm....
We should start a pool.
Who is the next fall guy (or gal)?
Originally posted by keyboardf12
yah. probably so.
that would be like Junior cutting off his right arm....
We should start a pool.
Who is the next fall guy (or gal)?
That would be Bush cutting off his HEAD. Rove is routinely referred to as "Bush's brain."
The next one to fall on a sword will probably be Condi Rice, I bet.
Originally posted by keyboardf12
that's what my gut is saying as well. she was very vocal the day before the tenent "admission".
Sure. The problem with that kind of high-profile resignation (or Powell, or whomever), would be that all the admin does (or any admin, for that matter) is hire them as an independent consultant. That way they exist outside of any congressional oversight (ahem, Rove).