CIA Approved State of Union Speech -W.House

[FlashHarry]

Man, here we go. Let the scapegoating of George Tenet begin...

Reuters story here.

<snip>
ENTEBBE, Uganda (Reuters) - The CIA (news - web sites) approved in advance President Bush (news - web sites)'s accusation in his January State of the Union address that Iraq (news - web sites) had sought to acquire nuclear material from Africa, U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) said on Friday.


"The CIA cleared the speech in its entirety... If the CIA, director of Central Intelligence, had said 'take this out of the speech', then it would have been done," Rice told reporters flying to Uganda on Air Force One with Bush.
</snip>

[phillybri]

1. More bullshit from the party of personal responsibility!

:grr:

[FlashHarry]

2. I thought it was the opposite.

Didn't the CIA say it gave the report to the National Security Council? That would be Condi's folks, wouldn't it?

[doxieone]

3. I just posted another story out about it.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030711/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq_49

[FlashHarry]

4. Weird.

Two Yahoo/Reuters stories at the same time, with different titles. In any case, I doubt the rest of the world will buy it.

[bowens43]

5. The rest of the world won't buy it

but the average American will.....

Unfortunately , I think the 'bush lied' will have about the same impact as the Enron story. Americans would rather support any number of atrocities then admit that they were duped by the bushies.

[hussar]

8. So true, so true

but just how do you wake these people up ?

[JoFerret]

29. Trouble is

Bush tried trumps Bush lied. Most seem to allow a lot of leeway to someone apparently making a good faith effort (however wrong-headed it may turn out to be.) So - 9/11 terror threat to America etc. -provide a very large cover for all kinds of Chimpy misdeeds. The man is trying is the thought. Don't keep attacking him. Let Dubya be Dubya. Reagan had the same shield. Poppy Bush lost his when he did not seem to care about the economy. Bush may lose his as the situation in Iraq spins out of control.

[Kolesar]

6. Per NPR "It is now George Tenant's job to check the SOTU for lies"

Here we see the Rovian strategy to explain the neocon aggression. They are trying to pin this on Tenant.

[bushh8ter]

7. Gee maybe they were setting Georgie boy up

EOM

[It was not a pretzel]

9. bullshit

since when has king george saught or listened to advice? Didn't he once say he answers to no-one but expects people to answer to him?

Would the CIA ask the UK to back down from the claims but tell Bush it was ok?

This is another lie.

[papau]

10. Condi's new lie - that telling the Brits the lie, and saying the Brits

Condi's new lie - that telling the Brits the lie, and saying the Brits believe these "facts", and have voiced that belief, is not a "lie".

Seems the CIA said that Bush saying that Iraq was chasing Atomic fuel would be a lie, but sweet Condi convinced the CIA that Bush saying that the Brits believed and had evidence that Iraq was chasing Atomic fuel was not a lie - even though all the above occurs in the same conversation in the same room.

So knowing the evidence the Brits had was fake because it was the evidence that we gave them, and knowing the statement by the Brits was wrong because it was the statement we asked them to make, and knowing that the only additional "evidence" the Brits had was their summary of the evidence that we gave them - as now testified to by all - Condi convinced the CIA that saying the Brits say "Atomic fuel to Iraq" is not a lie.

And the US Press - at least some of it - actually question the idea that the Bush folks are truth tellers and straight shooters!!!

Amazing.

[ferg]

34. exactly. CIA said it was a lie, but repeating a Brit lie was okay

Just like our media.

They repeat the Bush lies, knowing that they're lies, and not reporting them as lies.

But because the media says "Bush said...", they think they've whitewashed their role in the lie.

[ward919]

11. OK, how long have they known the info was bogus and when did they

admit to it? Only after we DUers (and like-minded collegues from across the NET and nation)hounded the media and the Congress!!

Total bullshit from the "adults" who can't take responsibility for their actions. How about that, Rush? A bunch of whining no-gooders failing to own up to their own decisions and the resulting consequences. How about that, Ditto-head followers of the "be-responsible-for-your-own-actions" Rush Limbaugh! Can we we hear an all-day rant about this from Rush or Hannity?

[Jack Rabbit]

12. BBC Link

From the BBC Online
Dated Friday July 11 11:51 GMT (4:51 am PDT)

CIA 'cleared' Iraq uranium claim

The CIA approved in advance US President George W Bush's accusation that Iraq had sought to acquire nuclear material from Africa, a senior Bush aide has said.
"The CIA cleared the speech in its entirety," the president's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told reporters on Air Force One, en route from South Africa to Uganda . . . .
If anyone had any doubts about the uranium claim, "those doubts were not communicated to the president," Ms Rice told reporters.
However she said the Central Intelligence Agency did make some changes to that particular sentence in the speech.
"Some specifics about amount and place were taken out," she said.

Read more

[Jack Rabbit]

13. A serious question

Are we supposed to believe that the IAEA was able to determine that the Niger document was a forgery almost immediately while the CIA was not?

I have a problem with that.

[bicentennial_baby]

19. Yep

They were photocopies!!!! :bounce:

[FlashHarry]

20. What about the whole "11 months" thing?

I thought the CIA debunked this thing "eleven months prior to the state of the union speech."

[jocapo]

36. Why didn't B*sh give the IAEA the Niger info?

The IAEA asked for the evidence that the B*sh admin claimed they had, proving that Saddam had tried to buy uranium , for some 6 weeks prior to the SOTU but were stonewalled. The IAEA received the forged Niger intel days after the SOTU, how convenient.

[Drifter]

14. Yep .. and Bush said ...

that if the CIA could not provide the proof that Saddam had WMD, then they better find someone who could. Bush already gave the CIA the answer that he wanted to hear. The CIA was only following orders.

Investigate, Indict, Impeach, Imprison

Cheers
Drifter

[Terran]

27. I think you are referring

to that discredited story from Capitol Blue the other day...the guy who claimed to be in the room when Bush said that. But that's been retracted, the guy (can't recall his name now) is a fake, there's no such evidence, unfortunately, that Bush said anything like that. If there were such a witness, we'd have this nailed. But for now there's no hard evidence I can see that Bush personally knew the Niger evidence was false, as difficult as it is to believe that he *didn't* know. But there will be plenty to point toward Tenet, Rice, Rumsefeld, maybe even Powell, that they all knew and let him go ahead and say it.

[psychopomp]

15. Photo of Cheney-Tenet meeting

[FlashHarry]

16. Broken photo link N/T

[Cheswick2.0]

17. she is as big a liar as the rest of them

notice the words she uses, "if they had told us to take it out". So they had to use the words "take it out" for the president not to use it? LIAR LIAR LIAR

[FlashHarry]

18. Here's my favorite bit.

From last weeks admission of error by an "unnamed high-ranking WH official:"

If we knew then what we know now, we probably wouldn't have included it.

What we know now? You sons of bitches knew eleven months prior to the SOTU! You mean, "if we knew we were going to be caught in a lie, we probably wouldn't have included it."

Bastards.

[saigon68]

45. CONDOMINIUM RICE

take it out george, take out the trash george

[underpants]

21. ABC WNT- phone call confirmation only the night before SoTU

That's it, basically a last minute "Is this okay?" phone call.

WMD-LIE
Imminent threat-LIE
Ties to terrorism/9-11--LIE
Niger-LIE

[FlashHarry]

23. Huh?

I missed that. Could you explain, please?

[underpants]

25. No link on ABC yet

They reported (can't remember which reporter Sate?Pentagon?) that a CIA official was called the night before the SoTU speech and asked to confirm the uranium evidence over the phone, he did not.

That's what they said I will try to find a link.

[FlashHarry]

22. The big question:

Will Tenet and the CIA just roll over for the WH? Or, will they stand up for themselves and call the WH on the bullshit this most certainly is?

Anyone know anything about Tenet? Is he a "good soldier" like Powell. I hope not.

[Rose Siding]

24. What's needed is the name of the "official"

quoted in the CBS story- the one who told CBS that the CIA DID tell the WH that the story was false.

[FlashHarry]

26. If I were he...

...I wouldn't be getting on any chartered planes in the near future.

(To quote Blackadder: "He accidentally brutally cut his head off while shaving.")

[trogdor]

30. Tenet was appointed in 1997 by Bill Clinton

Thus, he is a convenient fall guy. Most likely, the real truth is that the SoTU document was checked for classified material and found to be clean. It was probably never checked for accuracy, or if it were, statements of concern over the accuracy of the document were simply ignored by the administration.

[FlashHarry]

31. If that's so, maybe he's not a "good soldier"

and will spill the beans. Unless Karl's Mossad agents have something on him.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

32. One doesn't get to be head of the CIA by being a "good soldier."

You might have to go back to the days of the OSS to find one.

[FlashHarry]

35. Quite an "enigma," eh?

Let's hope Tenet comes out with both barrels firing. The CIA has taken a lot of shit from this administration for a long time. Hell, Tenet would probably like to string Rummy up by his shrivelled balls right about now.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

40. Very dangerous to mess with the Langley boys.

You best have your shit together.

[Robb]

39. THIS IS EXACTLY THE POINT!!

Yes!! Undoubtedly it was checked for classified information. That's one of the jobs of intelligence in relation to public addresses by officials who have access to secret information. NOT checking for accuracy. Or checking for typos or grammar, either. :eyes:

...And isn't trying to lay everything on the Agency what got * in this trouble in the first place? Even if Tenet rolls, you better believe there will be someone there who won't. I think it was Nero who said, "Never throw your spooks under the bus..." :)

[WhataBildeberger]

33. Tenet/CIA won't play "good soldier."

The CIA is not about soldiering. The CIA is about spooking. * is about to get spooked all the way back to the pig farm.

[ze_dscherman]

28. Comical Condi tells it again

It would be real fun to watch the blame game, if only it hadn't cost the life of so many people.

[young_at_heart]

37. What happened to "The buck stops here"?

Truman's words for ultimate responsibility should be plastered all over the West Wing!

[muchacho]

38. CIA being scapegoated

I wonder how long the CIA will tolerate beng the whipping boy for the ANFUs of tis administration.

I'm all for olding the CIA accountable but it seems they lay the blame for all their woes (save the economy, they're still worling on that) at the CIA door.

[bunnyhop]

41. What does "clear a speech" mean

Condi should be pressed on this point. Did the CIA say "every word of this is true" or did they more likely say something like " it's your call, mr. president. We can't actually disprove anything in the speech."

[Nottingham]

42. Oh I love them fighting with the CIA! Oh this Ugly!!

:bounce: CIA is not to be played with!

[FlashHarry]

43. What's to stop them from spilling the beans?

Tenet and his boys have got to be pretty sick of Bushco by now. Maybe this'll be the last straw.

[Nottingham]

44. Heres the Deal! We Know they are Forged! Lets here the Apologies

I wanna see POWEL RICE CHENEY BUSH AND RUMMY get on TV and Apologize for this false information to the People! I want an APOLOGY to the UN and HANS BLIX!

And I WANT AN INVESTIGATION

WE JUST HAD A PREMPTIVE STRIKE WAR and SPENT A HELLUVA LOT OF MONEY

and a bunch of people died

and SADDAM isn't caught!

:bounce:

I WANNA APOLOGY!!

[FlashHarry]

46. Apologies? Let's hear the resignations!

[Retrograde]

47. The buck stops over there

n/m

[FubarFly]

48. So the CIA told them it was okay to cite British intelligence,

But why where they citing the British in the first place?

Wasn't our own intelligence good enough?

Oh it wasn't?


Poor Condi. She's the worst liar of the bunch.

[Star]

49. WAIT A MINUTE!!

Sorry for yelling, but this takes the cake.

What happened to the "bowels of the agency" comment that sweet Ms. Rice said on one of the Sunday shows last weekend? You know, the one about how they didn't know anything because it hadn't made it to them, but the info might have been in the bowels of the agency or some such sh*t. Cundi is one of the most brazen liars in this lying bunch of theives, murders, and crooks.

[dansolo]

50. Isn't this an admission that the CIA did know?

Let me see if I understand this. The current story is that the CIA knew that the Niger uranium story was bogus at the time of the SOTU. Tenet has basically admitted this today. So Condi's statements last week were lies. So will any of the Sunday talk shows point this out?