Dems call for investigation of Bush White House publishing on Internet plans for making a nuke

[BigBearJohn]

Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Committee, and Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attack, today called on the committee's Republican leaders to immediately start an investigation into allegations uncovered in today's New York Times describing a U.S. government website that posted sensitive details about Iraq's former nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.

"We are keenly aware of the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction to our citizens, our interests and our allies, and we have a responsibility to prevent the dissemination of any sensitive documents and information that could be used in a future attack against our homeland," stated Thompson and Langevin. "The U.S. has made it a top priority to safeguard nuclear materials and to prevent terrorist organizations and state sponsors of terrorism from obtaining the materials, technology and information needed to develop their own WMD capabilities and this development seemingly flies in the face of those efforts."

"It is ironic that the same Republicans who claim that National Security is their top priority continue to act in ways that make our nation less safe," said Thompson. "Our intelligence community has already told us that our invasion and continued presence in Iraq has resulted in an increase in the terrorist threat against us. Now President Bush, under pressure from Congressional Republicans, has posted sensitive documents that weapons experts have called a "cookbook" for nuclear and chemical weapons on the world wide web for all to see - including terrorists."

Because of the serious concerns raised in the article, Langevin and Thompson asked for an investigation into how such a significant breach occurred, what sensitive information was posted on the website, whether any foreign agents or terrorist organizations accessed the pages, and what potential harm can come from this breach. Additionally, they believe that, no later than the week of November 13, the Homeland Security Committee should hold hearings as well as schedule classified briefings for committee members to provide a candid assessment of the scope of this problem.

SOURCE:
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/dems-call-for-investigation-of-bush.html

[KittyWampus]

1. woohoo! Ride this for all it's worth DU! Forget Saddam getting sentenced

[skooooo]

2. I'm more concerned with the firing of the guy...

...who is supposed to track waste and fraud in Iraq.

[BigBearJohn]

3. *****OLBERMAN IS HAMMERING, I REPEAT **HAMMERING** THE BUSH ADMIN*****

[BigBearJohn]

4. *****OLBERMAN IS HAMMERING, I REPEAT **HAMMERING** THE BUSH ADMIN*****

[rodeodance]

6. good to hear this. thanks

[msedano]

5. glad to read such temperate, reasoned voices

recommended.

here is the tenor the debate needs to have after the elections tuesday. the most dramatic action elected democrats can take is return the nation and congress to a civilized dialog of ideas. sheesh, it is never important to kill your opponent. that's why we have a Constitution.

[gulliver]

7. Any Iranian DNS addresses in the access logs?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[grytpype]

8. I just can't get over this.

I am watching Olberman on TiVo, and it's just insane. They went against Negroponte and the IAEA to publish that stuff. The IAEA knew about the nuke docs since before the invasion and published the documents in redacted form. Bush published the papers by executive order, without redactions.

And it is information that is still classified with respect to our own nuclear arsenal, such as dimensions, critical masses, stuff like that. You have to experiment to get that information, that's what NK is doing. They shouldn't have bothered, Bush posted it all online.

[gully]

9. WOO HOO!

Go Dems!

[Mnemosyne]

10. Error: You've already recommended that thread.

:hi:

[54anickel]

11. Oh for cripes sakes! I didn't get the part about pressure from Congressional

Repukes until I found the NYT story. I'm a bit behind today, this is the first I've heard about this BS. They'll do ANYTHING to win.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-security-internet-iraq.html

snip>

The unclassified site was established by U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte in March under pressure from Republicans, who believed the captured documents would illustrate the dangers of Saddam Hussein during an election year marked by increasing voter disaffection over the Iraq war.

``Something unfortunate occurred,'' White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters aboard Air Force One as President George W. Bush traveled to Iowa to campaign for Republicans.

Negroponte's office shut down the site, known as the ''Operation Iraqi Freedom Document Portal,'' after The New York Times informed the Bush administration about expert concerns over posted accounts of Iraq's nuclear research before the 1991 Gulf War.

The New York Times, which broke the story late on Thursday, reported that the site's contents in recent weeks had begun to ''constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.''

Negroponte's office said in a statement on Friday it had suspended access to the site ``pending a review to ensure its content is appropriate for public viewing.''

``The material currently on the Web site, as well as the procedures used to post new documents, will be carefully reviewed before the site becomes available again,'' it said.

[williesgirl]

12. Done for political reasons, this SCREAMS IMPEACHMENT. Even the repukes

should vote for that or face tyranny at home. Just hope Darth Cheney had something to do with it so we can do a two-fer.

[Selteri]

17. This is one of those things that if the Republican's don't get the investigation

started before they should be leaving congress's power and en masse from a legitimate vote...

THen again, they should have called these two felons on their actions multiple times in the past. This is the kind of news story that _should_ be on the front page of every news with every reporter speaking out of the horrors if a terrorist had visited that site and how vile or incompetent someone must be to allow information of this level out into the public eye.

Should... but I somehow dooubt it will be trumpeted as much as the guilty verdict on Saddam on the 5th where he will be sentenced to death by firing squad or such. While I personally don't feel any sorrow to hear that man being found guilty of crimes he comitted that are publically known, I feel that the timing of this kangaroo court sounds very suspect and that the choice to not send Saddam to the international criminal court if only to show an Olive Branch to the rest of the world were he still would have been found guilty doubtlessly.

[Heywood J]

38. No, it doesn't.

It screams "put them in the chair".

The Rosenthals were tried publicly and executed for nuclear secret-passing. This is far worse than what they did. At least they gave it only to the Russians, an organized nation-state. Bush gave the info away freely to any one-celled idiot like Kim Jong Il or Osama bin Laden. They even released it printed in Arabic, for any idiot with a grudge to read and resell to the highest bidder.

At least the Russians never actually used such a device against American soil, and probably had no intentions of ever doing so (mutually assured destruction bred blinking). The people who are likely to have downloaded this information have absolutely no such compunctions. In fact, many of them seem to relish suicide and using suicide to kill. They're crazy motherfuckers - being threatened in return just doesn't have the same deterrent when you're doing it to someone with a death wish.

Passing nuclear secrets was treason when the Rosenthals did it in the late forties. If it was treason then, it's treason now. Lucky for him, Bush ordered it to be done during "wartime". If I'm not mistaken, that's even worse. Especially when you're the one in charge of ensuring the security of the nation - bit of a conflict of interest there, at best.

No, this isn't an impeachable offense. It's an executable offense, with precedent. Oh wait, it's only that for the rest of us mere mortals. Silly me, I forgot.

[Patchuli]

40. With all due respect,

I believe it was the Rosenbergs...

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/rosenb/ROSENB.HTM

and welcome to DU!
:hi:

[Heywood J]

44. Sorry

Got the name wrong. I'll change that.

[Patchuli]

46. No biggie! nt

[Heywood J]

48. That's okay, apparently I'm past the editing time anyway...

NT

[McCamy Taylor]

13. This is the real stakes. They have made the world a living hell.

[civildisoBDence]

14. I'm sure President Pelosi will exercise due restraint with Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney

Once this story unravels, it'll be hard for all 49 Senate Republicans to vote against convicting these two war criminals.

Wishful thinking? Maybe. Possible? Definitely.

Newsprism

[Straight Shooter]

15. Farce. Everyone knows the Democrats don't care about national security.

:sarcasm:

[Cameron27]

16. k&r k&r k&r

[smtpgirl]

18. And where is the bullshit line

that we are safer now than we were before, what bullshit!!!!

[walldude]

19. While I love seeing this, is it just me or

could they have worded it a little better? It's no wonder the Dems are called wimps. The repugs screwed the pooch on this one and there is no way out of it. You can bet if the dems had done this the statement would have read more like this: "TREASON! WE TOLD YOU! THE DEMOCRATS HAVE DONE THE EQUIVALENT OF HANDING TERRORISTS AN ATOMIC BOMB. NANCY PELOSI AND BILL CLINTON ARE IN CAHOOTS WITH OSAMA! WE MUST HAVE AN INVESTIGATION AND BRING THESE TRAITORS TO JUSTICE! THEIR CORPSES SHALL ADORN THE WHITE HOUSE LAWN TILL THE VULTURES HAVE PICKED EVERY BIT OF FLESH FROM THE BONES OF THESE HORRIBLE, GODLESS, TERRORIST SYMPATHIZERS!"
Then the investigation would have started this afternoon and the guilty parties would be hung over the White House lawn just in time for election day.
Now I'm not sayin that we should embarrass ourselves the way they do but c'mon, could we get just a little pissed off about this compromise to national security... please.


on edit: Oh and a big K&R.. You have been all over this story like a cheap suit BBJ.. Thanks :toast:

[tblue]

23. You got that right. No mercy!!!

[burrowowl]

20. Anything in the papers

are already know to people who study Nuclear Physics.

[BigBearJohn]

22. Not true. That idea was debunked by nuclear scientist on Olbertmann tonite

[bluestateguy]

21. I think we may have a candidate for the first subpeonas to go out

Chairman Harman (or Hastings, whoever it is) of the Intelligence Committee will not be kind.

[bluerum]

24. Is it possible, that the documents were doctored by the NSA or

other security orgs to remove truly sensitive info? RE: To more safely gain intelligence info from the server analytics for the site and use it to protect America from true evil doers. Devious and treacherous as this sounds for it's encroachment upon civil rights it may actually be preferable to the next scenario that I propose.
:tinfoilhat:

Scenario 2

Another other option of course is, that the squatter in chief, the republican congress and senate really are that frickin stupid. In which case we are all fucked from within anyway.
:wow:

[humbled_opinion]

25. The Incompetence of the Administration is astounding.

It is amazing that we have not had a greater attack then 911 here in recent years. One worry I have is winning control of Congrees if followed by an attack on America will be met with a furious Repub onslaught of we told you so... Without proper preparation for such an event it may go over bad for us.

[lanlady]

26. Arab states have nuclear plans

OK, they say they want to build nuke power plants but still makes you wonder:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2596340

[rocktivity]

27. Devious or incompetent? That is the question

Were the papers deliberately leaked in hopes of blaming it on the Dems and the liberal media? Or because the Bush monarchy is so incompentent on national security? We've got 'em coming AND going on this one!

:evilgrin:
rocknation

[Qutzupalotl]

33. They talk about playing politics with national security.

But as with everything else they accuse us of, they're projecting.

Rock on,
Qutz

[Tigress DEM]

35. "But when the pResident does it, it's not a crime" is going to explode.

Even stupidity and total incompetence are no excuse for whoever posted this and whoever ordered it posted.


But since Haliburton has been helping Iran with their nuclear weapons capabilities since that scientific survey came out stating they were 10 years away from being a credible threat... let's remember to bring that up as well.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Aug05/Leopold0806.htm

Halliburton Secretly Doing Business with Key Member of
Iran's Nuclear Team
by Jason Leopold
www.dissidentvoice.org
August 6, 2005

<snip>
Scandal-plagued Halliburton, the oil services company once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, was secretly working with one of Iran’s top nuclear program officials on natural gas related projects and, allegedly, selling the officials' oil development company key components for a nuclear reactor, according to Halliburton sources with intimate knowledge into both companies’ business dealings.

Just last week, a National Security Council report said Iran was a decade away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. That time frame could arguably have been significantly longer if Halliburton, which just reported a 284 percent increase in its fourth quarter profits due to its Iraq reconstruction contracts, was not actively providing the Iranian government with the financial means to build a nuclear weapon.

[Felinity]

37. Not devious, devilish

Is in not now clear to anyone with an IQ over 75 that the goal of this coven of dim-wits, half-wits, and evil geniuses is to increase fear and suffering throughout the world?

Not even Mr. Magoo could blunder this badly, this often. The laws of probability are just against it. If it were merely incompetence or criminal-level disinterest, they would have done something that actually works well by now.

What have they inadvertently succeeded in doing right? Anyone?

[0007]

28. This is the big ONE

[Finder]

29. There is a freeper who has been translating...

many of the documents. J Veritas...I am sure he has copies of everything.

[Divine Discontent]

32. !!!

so much outrage over silly jokes by kerry, but when america hears horrible news they shrug it off as no bid deal because they don't understand its implications!


www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable <<-- antibush prodem stickers/shirts

[humbled_opinion]

53. Doesn't work becasue they will spin it as justification.

i.e., Saddam had this information before we went to war threfore if it is that serious in the hands of enemy states then Saddam would/could have provided it all along besides if the information proves that he was much further along on his weapons programs it helps the GOP... We don't want to start a wave that says we agree that the documents that were taken from Iraq are true... I saw some of that stuff and believe me if you say it is all true then the evidence is there that links Saddam to Al-Qeada and evidence that Saddam recruited suicide terrorists for missions inside the U.S... .So I think the bottom line is it is all worthless junk.

[Duncan]

30. There can be no doubt that this information is in the hands of many at this point. nt

[Finder]

31. They should start with the main propagandist...

http://iraqdocs.blogspot.com/

Follow the money, as they say.

the info is on FR too.

[Tigress DEM]

34. So... a kool-aid drinking freeper keystoned *ush?

Kind of "Hitler in Springtime"esque, don't you think?

Intending to prove his fuhrer's innocence, he puts out the question that starts people looking in the nooks and cranies of the website that proves *ush is a traitor.



Like the Keystone Cops, lot of running around and bungling cookiness, but not much real work being done, except accidentally giving the pie in face to the well dressed businessman or some pillar of the community who may have been anything but.

http://www.publicdomaintorrents.com/nshowmovie.html?movieid=89

[w4rma]

36. Combine the GOP releasing information on A-bomb construction (in arabic) with the 6 Arabic countries

who have just now decided that they will be building nuclear plants for electric power.

[vixengrl]

39. Dems call for investigation--and well they ought to!

"It is ironic that the same Republicans who claim that National Security is their top priority continue to act in ways that make our nation less safe," said Thompson. "Our intelligence community has already told us that our invasion and continued presence in Iraq has resulted in an increase in the terrorist threat against us. Now President Bush, under pressure from Congressional Republicans, has posted sensitive documents that weapons experts have called a "cookbook" for nuclear and chemical weapons on the world wide web for all to see - including terrorists."

These are the people who insisted they knew how to keep us safe. They crowed that the grown-ups were in charge when they took the White House. They insisted they knew more about foreign policy. They claimed dissent was treason, and that not supporting their war on terror meant that you wanted the terrorists to win--

And yet here they are, using sensitive information to make their political case, and damn the consequences. And it isn't just the White House, mind you--it's the lot.

[BDR_23]

41. Yay!

Well that's good. If those got into terrorist hands we'd be
dead. Why don't guys stop whining about bush is running the
country and do something about. 

[vixengrl]

43. Welcome to DU!

:hi: And I can think of one thing that might be done about it: Article II Section 4 of the US constitution comes to mind.

[emald]

42. I believe that gwbushit allowed 9/11 to happen.....

and now is looking to create a situation where a criminal group will finally get the bomb and set it off here. He wants thta to happen. why else would they publish this crap on line in farsi? americans are not going to be reading this. bushit wants this to happen.
impeach and imprison the little shit now, before he gets to push the button.

[stepnw1f]

45. Sounds Logical the Way He Seems to "protect America"

Is he that incompetent or is he intentionally working with the enemy?

[IWantAChange]

47. C'mon - what's a nuke in terrorist hands? - GAY MARRIAGE is the

key as to whether or not we survive as a nation.

:wtf: :sarcasm:

[Vidar]

49. Good to see more Dems speaking up.

Yes, I know they are ranking members of relevant committees.

[LooseWilly]

50. Charity aspirations gone awry

These documents were, as I understand it, put online in hopes that the public at large would be able to sift through them and provide the administration with the support it wanted for it's assertion that Iraq was a threat to the US. Of course, the reason they were put on-line was that... get this... that the government didn't have the resources to translate it all themselves.
So, in what seems to amount to a faith based initiative, they decided to let the well wishing supporters around the world do the translation and analysis for them. Volunteer work, they hoped, would prove them right.
The papers were not printed in Farsi though, they were in Arabic. They do not speak Farsi in Iraq... at least not as a general rule. They don't seem to want to pay the money to provide enough Arabic translators in the US intelligence services either, apparently. I would hazard to guess, however, that there are more Arabic speakers in Iran than there are in the US... if nothing else, simply because Koran scholars are likely to learn Arabic the way that Biblical scholars will tend to learn Latin, Greek... or occasionally even Aramaic and whatnot.
So what the hell am I trying to say?... well, seems to me that this snafu has the Republicans giving away precisely what they say can't be allowed to be acquired to exactly those that they don't want to acquire it. And, considering the apparent tech savviness displayed by al-qaeda and their ilk, it seems likely that at least one agent might've stumbled across the info... which would lead to it being relayed very handily to... well whoever the Repub's might insist shouldn't have it. Already written in Arabic for many who might've otherwise had to have it translated.
While I can't help but suspect that hopes for another attack might be on the minds of the Repub.s, to help ensure the fear factor... this seems like just a simple case of incompetence... woeful incompetence and disregard for the possibility of anything in Arabic being of any technical use to anyone... that they wouldn't at least detail a translator to 'ok' the information before posting it seems to me to indicate a complete disregard for any potential information that might be contained... which indicates to me a complete dismissal of the possibility that the Iraqis actually had any information of any importance... on the part of the administration.
In other words, it suggests to me that they never suspected that there was any information that could be of use in the first place... compounding the suspicion that the foundations for the reasons for invading were all simply a construction... if they really believed that there was a nuclear program going on in Iraq... wouldn't they've been more careful about screening documents before posting them to the internet?
Of course, the issue of total, complete, and blinding incompetence could be used as a defense... but isn't that a worse defense than a simple assumption that they knew they were lying and assumed that their lies were as huge as they believed them to be?

Either way, this is damning. Either they knew they'd lied, and assumed that the info was only going to serve their interests... or they believed their lies, and were monumentally incompetent in behaving according to the logical dictates of those lies.

What the hell though, Pakistan may well have spread all this information to anyone interested anyway... but they're still an ally in the "war on terror". Maybe the administration can simply cover themselves by admitting that this is all "old news" after all...

[Vinca]

52. Good analysis. Welcome to DU.

And one also has to wonder why this story has been disappeared by the "liberal media." This story, so close to an election, should be the headline. I guess it would have been if Kerry had posted it.

[AzDar]

51. Kick! n/t

[wordpix]

54. GD rethuglican repukes, this makes me so mad I could scream, the f$$%!ing idiots

They put this info out to "prove" Saddam had WMDs or, er, was "interested in pursuing them."

What a bunch of dangerous morons. Too bad this didn't come out last week.