WP: Senators Debate Significance of Pentagon Report On Intelligence

[Pirate Smile]

Senators Debate Significance of Pentagon Report On Intelligence

By Walter Pincus and Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, February 10, 2007; Page A01

Senate Democrats and Republicans disagreed yesterday over the meaning and importance of a Defense Department inspector general's conclusion that a Pentagon policy office produced and gave senior policymakers "alternative intelligence assessments on Iraq and Al Qaida relations" that were "inconsistent" with the intelligence community's consensus view in the lead-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Acting Defense Department Inspector General Thomas F. Gimble told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he had no evidence that the Pentagon activities were illegal and said they were authorized by then-Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul D. Wolfowitz.
But, he said, "the actions, in our opinion, were inappropriate."

The office's assessments, according to an unclassified summary of Gimble's report released yesterday, "evolved from policy to intelligence products, which were then disseminated." The summary said the intelligence community's consensus view and "available intelligence" at the time, late in the summer of 2002, did not support the policy office's conclusion that a "mature symbiotic relationship" existed between Iraq and al-Qaeda.

-snip-
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is in the process of producing a "Phase II" of its investigation of the lead-up to the war, dealing with allegations that the administration emphasized unproven intelligence that supported its charges against Hussein and played down information that undercut them. The committee has been awaiting the inspector general's report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/09/AR2007020902250.html

[Taoschick]

1. After

Yesterday's correction, I think I'll be looking for alternative sources for this story.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/08/AR2007020802387.html

If they can't figure out who they're quoting, what else have they misreported?

[jazzjunkysue]

2. OK Which senator is going to come out and say this in english?

We need a 5 word statement that even Bush supporters can understand.

("alternative intelligence assessments on Iraq and Al Qaida relations" that were "inconsistent" with the intelligence community's consensus)= THEY LIED ABOUT THE WMD'S.

(The office's assessments, according to an unclassified summary of Gimble's report released yesterday, "evolved from policy to intelligence products, which were then disseminated) = THEY MADE UP SHIT THAT SUPPORTED THEIR NEOCON AGENDA.

This is how the Russians used to hide reality from the commoners: Their "news" anchors would drone on and on in 5 syllable words that put you to sleep in the first 45 seconds.

[druidity33]

3. the crime

The crime was not necessarily coming up with bad intelligence assessments... it was inserting those bad ideas into the spot where the general consensus of the intelligence community should have been. It's good to have contrasting ideas... it's useful to know where the enemy is coming from. Without caveats, the intelligence is not only cooked, it's treasonous.

<snip>

"Gimble repeatedly emphasized yesterday that his report "was an investigation of a process" at the Pentagon and not of any individuals. That process was inappropriate, he said, because it purported to produce an "intelligence product" but its conclusions did not acknowledge alternative views within the intelligence community."


<snip>

[acmavm]

4. So far all they've done is 'debate'. Or try (and be shut down by repubs).

They need to get angry, just like the people that elected them.

Some are. Feinstein for example.

But the rest. They need to quit campaigning for the 2008 nomination and earn their right to be on the ticket.

[CHIMO]

5. US Iraq war intelligence criticised

A leading Bush administration official undermined CIA intelligence in order to help justify the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon's inspector general has told a senate committee in a report.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E902FB08-2FF9-4B22-A87C-CD14C1A1AA99.htm