Marcy Wheeler's Reactions To Senate Intelligence Committee Report

[Hissyspit]

...which David Swanson calls the "worst betrayal yet."

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/davidswanson/117

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/05/the_latest_from.html

May 27, 2007
The Latest from SSCI
by emptywheel

After complaining about Rockefeller as Chairman, she goes after logic of the Republican comments:

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The substantive complaint against this report comes from Senators Bond, Warner, Hatch and Burr. They dismiss the overwhelming power of the report, firstly, by claiming it's alright if decisionmakers ignore our own Intelligence Community in favor of the propagandists at the AEI.

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The Republican Senators go on at some length, trying to dismiss the sound analysis the two reports offered by pointing at tactical elements the reports didn't predict--like the use of IEDs. And then they reveal their hand with their biggest complaint: the inclusion of the distribution lists for the two report, showing everyone from Richard Armitage to John Bolton to Dougie Feith to Stephen Hadley to Scooter Libby received the reports (though Senators Hagel and Snowe voted with Democrats to release the distribution lists).

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This is the same excuse that Condi has used repeatedly, that she may not have seen the explicit warnings sent to her not to use the Niger claim. Funny how everyone in the Administration seems to have ignored precisely the reports of value, but now they want to duck responsibility for having ignored those reports. (Though they do make an excellent point--that the Committees should have admitted that they, the Committee members, had received the reports as well. I will be calling Rockefeller's office--and probably Feingold, who doesn't usually do purely partisan things--to see if they've got a good explanation.)

In short, the Republicans offer a bunch of excuses that, in the private sector, would get someone canned. "I didn't read the reports I was supposed to." "I ignored the company's own intelligence for that which I preferred, but now I don't want to take responsibility for having made that choice."

But in the Bush White House, such excuses don't get you fired, they get you promoted.

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[bleever]

1. Recommended.

Speaking of Libby, emptywheel also has some interesting stuff about whether or not to publicize the letters sent vouching to the court for Scootie's fine character.