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Who
Can We Blame? Who Should We Blame?
July
16, 2003
By John J. Malone
After pointing the finger at the CIA for the appearance of
misleading statements in his State of the Union address, the
president has expressed his full confidence in George Tenet,
the intelligence agency's director.
Not surprising. Wouldn't you have complete confidence in
a loyal bootlicker who would be willing to fall on his sword
for you? I know I would. Tell an egregious and deliberate
lie and then have someone else take responsibility for not
stopping you from doing it? Sounds like a great deal.
Let me break this down for you:
President Bush said in his State of the Union address on
January 28, 2003:
"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein
recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
Pretty serious stuff. Serious enough to scare the bejesus
out of a frightened American public still reeling over September
11th. Serious enough to convince many fence-sitting skeptics
that Iraq posed an imminent threat to our security. Serious
enough to justify a war even. That is, if you believe it.
Problem is, the CIA had been unable to corroborate this
report despite furious attempts to do so. The most significant
such attempt was made in February of 2002 according to a piece
in last Sunday's New York Times written by Joseph Wilson.
In the piece, Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador and National
Security Council aide, writes that the CIA sent him to Niger
in February of 2002, at the behest of Vice President Dick
Cheney's office. His mission, which was no secret, was to
investigate the claim and report back. Mr. Wilson returned
with the conclusion that the allegation was false and filed
a full and complete report. In his piece he wrote:
"The vice president's office asked a serious question. I
was asked to help formulate the answer. I did so, and I have
every confidence that the answer I provided was circulated
to the appropriate officials within our government. "
In case you haven't noticed, February of 2002 was almost
a full year before the president's State of the Union
Address. As far as Wilson was concerned, this issue had been
put to bed a year earlier. Imagine his shock when he heard
the president utter these words in his State of the Union
address in January of 2003:
"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein
recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
The veracity of the British claim had been hotly debated
and disputed at all levels of the intelligence community for
some time. Greg Thielmann, a former Director of the Office
of Strategic, Proliferation, and Military Issues in the State
Department, said to Newsweek regarding the use of the
discredited uranium intelligence in the address: "When I saw
that, it really blew me away… Not that stupid piece of garbage.
My thought was, how did that get into the speech?"
So, when National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice said
on Meet the Press: "…maybe someone knew down in the bowels
of the agency, but no one in our circles knew that there were
doubts and suspicions" she was…(pause for effect)…lying! I
believe this may be part of Ms. Rice's job description. Even
Secretary of State Colin Powell has leapt to the president's
defense, saying: "The president was presenting what seemed
to be a reasonable statement at that time." This is pretty
surprising considering that scarcely a week after the State
of the Union address, he apparently did not consider the intelligence
good enough to include in his own momentously important address
to the UN on February 5th outlining the scary, scary dangers
posed by Iraq.
Now along comes whipping boy George Tenet to take full and
complete responsibility for the "error." Notice no one likes
to say the word lie, which I believe is the word one
generally applies to misleading or factually incorrect statements
made by people who know them to be misleading or factually
incorrect. Either way, Tenet stepped forward and took the
blame, took a bullet like a good soldier, and President Bush
now considers the issue closed. Now everyone shut up and go
about your business. Please disperse. Nothing to see here.
Although Tenet did not personally read or approve of the
language in the State of the Union address, he took responsibility
because his staff supposedly did read and approve it. It is
interesting to note, however, that Tenet had personally raised
objections to deputy national security adviser Stephen Hadley
regarding prior presidential claims about Iraq seeking uranium.
As a result, a similar statement was struck from an October
7, 2002 speech in Cincinnati at the CIA's request. Somehow,
the statement still made it into the State of the Union address
on January 23, 2003. Why was it not good enough for Cincinnati,
but good enough for the rest of America? What changed?
What changed was the level of pressure being applied to
intelligence officials to simply go along with the administration's
rhetoric.
In his mea culpa statement, Tenet said:
"Officials who were reviewing the draft remarks on uranium
raised several concerns about the fragmentary nature of the
intelligence with National Security Council colleagues. Some
of the language was changed. From what we know now, agency
officials in the end concurred that the text in the speech
was factually correct - that the British government report
said that Iraq sought uranium from Africa."
Tenet may be taking the rap for his agents concurring that
the language was technically correct, but this simply demonstrates
complicity, not responsibility. The essential question is:
who concocted the lie, who sold the lie, who told the lie,
and who knew it was a lie.
Here's how it went down: according to Alan Foley, a proliferation
expert at the CIA, he was questioned by Robert G. Joseph,
a nuclear proliferation expert at the National Security Council,
about the use of the uranium claim in a draft of the State
of the Union address. Foley (CIA) objected to the use of the
claim because the intelligence was weak and had been essentially
discredited. Joseph (NSC) then cited the British report. Foley
countered that the CIA did not believe the report was correct.
Joseph then asked Foley to at least confirm that the British
had indeed made such a report. Foley confirmed that this was
true, the British had issued such a report. End of discussion.
So, apparently, because it cited the British report (which
they knew to be bogus), "White House officials" felt it was
acceptable to include a false claim (call it "dubious" if
that makes you feel more comfortable) in the President's address
to the nation concerning a subject as solemn and serious as
war. Right on!
And we're supposed to blame the CIA for not preventing the
White House from out-and-out lying? They raised their objections.
Their objections were duly squashed. And now they are taking
the blame? For what? Not having the balls to stand up to the
Bush Cartel and call them on their lies? Condoleeza Rice has
said: "If the C.I.A., the director of central intelligence,
had said, 'Take this out of the speech,' it would have been
gone, without question." That may be so, but it seems to me
that the climate within this administration is one in which
the policy-makers have the final say, not the intelligence
analysts. Absolutely sickening.
What I want to know is this:
Was Mr. Cheney aware that the statement was false? Mr. Wilson
seems to think he was and I find it hard to believe that Cheney
would request that the CIA investigate a matter of such magnitude
and not be informed of the agency's findings and conclusions.
If Mr. Cheney knew it was false, who else within the administration
knew? Did Mr. Bush? We need to know what the president knew
and when he knew it.
Of one thing I am virtually certain: the trail of blame
goes much higher than George Tenet. Having the Director of
the CIA read a conciliatory statement (most likely drafted
for him by Karl Rove) and taking the heat will not make this
thing go away. Tenet didn't write the speech nor did anyone
at the CIA. Tenet did not make the slippery arguments for
leaving bogus claims in the speech, nor did anyone at the
CIA.
Something is rotten in the West Wing, and my sense is that
there's more to come on this. This goes much deeper than one
"mistake" in one speech. It's indicative of a pattern of deceit
and finger-pointing on a subject of extreme gravity. I, for
one, want answers, and I hope that the press and Congress
will demand them.
Key
Sources:
C.I.A.
Chief Takes Blame in Assertion on Iraqi Uranium
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/12/international/worldspecial/12INTE.html
Tenet
Takes Blame on Iraqi Uranium Claim
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030712/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq_tenet&cid=544&ncid=716
CIA Takes
Blame For WMD Flap
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/25/iraq/main560449.shtml?cmp=EM8707
CIA wanted
British to drop uranium reference
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1762/3982121.html
John
Nichols: Was war based on a lie? Ask Cheney
http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/column/nichols/52530.php
Bush
Considers Iraq Uranium Issue Closed
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&e=1&u=/ap/20030712/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq
Tenet
statement taking responsibility for Iraq charge
http://www.msnbc.com/news/937835.asp?cp1=1
Bush
Expresses Confidence in C.I.A. Director
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-US-Iraq.html
What
I Didn't Find in Africa
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/opinion/06WILS.html
President
Delivers "State of the Union"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030128-19.html
Democrat
Henry Waxman, Asks Condoleezza Rice "Why did President Bush
cite forged evidence about Iraq"
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3758.htm
Where
are Iraq's WMDs?
http://www.msnbc.com/news/919753.asp
Remarks
to the United Nations Security Council
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2003/17300.htm
White
House was warned of dubious intelligence, official says
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/6076139.htm
Bush
need not apologize over Iraq-uranium statement, Powell says
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/943865/posts
CIA Got
Uranium Reference Cut in Oct.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48847-2003Jul12.html?nav=hptop_tb
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