House intelligence chief berates Negroponte on WMD

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N29279708.htm

House intelligence chief berates Negroponte on WMD

WASHINGTON, June 29 (Reuters) - The chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee accused U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte's office on Thursday of downplaying the significance of chemical weapons finds in Iraq.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican, said in a letter to Negroponte that intelligence officials at a June 21 press briefing organized by his office misled journalists about the significance of 500 munitions containing mustard and sarin nerve agents discovered since May 2004.

Intelligence officials at the briefing told journalists the weapons predated the 1991 Gulf War, were too degraded to be used as originally intended and posed no threat to U.S. forces deployed in the region during the run-up to the 2003 invasion.

"I am very disappointed by the inaccurate, incomplete, and occasionally misleading comments made by the briefers," Hoekstra said in the letter, a copy of which was released by his office.
"Because this call was organized by your office, I assume that you authorized and were familiar with its content. I would appreciate an explanation and correction of these inaccurate and misleading assertions," he told the national intelligence director.

[msongs]

1. will the repubs makie a mountain from this molehill ? they sure

are launching a concerted across the board attack.

anybody deflecting it?

Msongs

listen to our song demos!
www.msongs.com/msongsdemos.htm

[htuttle]

2. LOL -- "You made us look like idiots! Explain yourself!"

[Greeby]

3. Keep it up, Hoekstra

You'll soon be getting a lesson in what happens to people who cross John "Death's Head" Negroponte :eyes:

[Rose Siding]

4. Ha ha ha! K&R

They OWN you, Petey.

[spag68]

5. Hoekstra

Some of these supposed intelligent officials exhibit so little common sense it's a wonder they make it through the day. If you watch c-span much, these displays of idiocy are on display on a regular basis. Ok this is great, I just hit my spellcheck and Hoekstra came up jockstrap

[redqueen]

12. Yep... stunning how ignorant they are, isn't it?

It's almost unbelievable people go on supporting them... almost.

[0007]

13. Negroponte is in the same class as Kerik


My spell check came up with "cocksucker" for Negroponte

[AndyTiedye]

6. If The Stuff Is That Old, It's Probably The Stuff Reagan Sold Him

[Barrett808]

10. Careful: Reagan/Poppy didn't (quite) sell chemical weapons to Iraq

Germany sold the industrial chemical weapons know-how. Remember, Iraq's chemical weapons capability was indigenous.

We do have evidence that Bush/Baker illegally authorized sales of ballistic missile technology and cluster bombs, against US export controls. Some $5 billion in agricultural loans were diverted to finance Iraq weapons procurement, largely through Atlanta BNL.

Also, US satellite imagery was beamed to Baghdad, showing the results of battlefield engagements in which Iraq used chemical weapons. This, of course, makes the US complicit in the use of illegal weapons.

[Felix Mala]

11. However, SH had ALREADY used WMD's "on his own people"

before, and while, St. Ronnie was assuring he got all the nasty weapons he wanted.

[ronnie624]

14. Iraq's capability

came from war profiteers from all over the world, including France, Germany, Italy, India, Egypt, Spain, the U.S., and the UK. However, many of these foreign firms were actually subsidiaries operating within the U.S. I think it is pretty obvious where they got their permission and even encouragement to provide Saddam with his weapons.


Additionally to these 24 companies based in the US, are nearly 50 subsidiaries of foreign enterprises whose arms co-operation with Iraq seems to have been operated from the US. In addition, Ministries for defense, energy, trade, and agriculture, as well as the foremost U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories at Lawrence Livermore. Los Alamos, and Sandia, are designated as suppliers for the Iraqi arms programs for A, B, and C-weapons as well as for rockets.

<http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=2766>

I wonder how many of these foreign companies were actually subsidiaries of U.S. firms.

[Barrett808]

15. A very interesting question, one we'll probably never have answered

Recall that Poppy went on an orgy of document shredding as he left the White House. Surely, many of those documents pertained to "Iraqgate".

Document shredding: Calling card of the Bush family.

[gratuitous]

7. Waaaahh! You gave me a shovel and I dug myself a hole

Guess what, Mr. Hoekstra? This is the way this administration operates. You were stupid enough to believe Negroponte when he told you about those ol' debbil weapons of mass destruction (what is this anyway, a Babylon 5 episode?). Anyone with half a brain who's been alive in the last 30 years knows Negroponte's record. That makes you stupider than a person with half a brain, Mr. Hoekstra.

[Supersedeas]

16. not the brightest bulb in the dim bulb collection, is he?

[leesa]

8. The word 'intelligence' should not be used anywhere near any of these

people. I DO love the catfights though.

[AlCzervik]

9. berating a guy with death squads, not a good idea.