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[Jacobin]

Former intel officer interviewed states flatly that he believes that Bush* KNEW the Niger uranium docs were falsified at the time of the SOTU speech.

Diane Sawyer actually lets him say it on TV.

:bounce:

:bounce:

[Ouabache]

1. Thieleman to Sawyer: President " Deliberately Deceived" for war !!!

I heard it on tv band on radio...
I will post notes I made in pieces so I don't lose my dialup connection...

Thieleman worked on info in fall of 2002.
He focused on the supposed nuclear materials supposedly sought in Niger and the aluminum tubes which the inspectors found.

He knew these assertions to be completely "dioscredited" within the intel organizations.

[Ouabache]

2. Thieleman to Sawyer on ABC #2

With the continual hammering of this discredited intel out to the public in speeches by the President and top admin officials he couldn't believe that they were allowing their "fantasies" about the information be hammered out as real fact in order to go to war.

[Ouabache]

4. Thieleman to Sawyer #3

He said it made him mad and he told Sawyer he saw it as " deliberate deception" by the president and top officials in his administration in order to go to war. His opinion in March was that the only thing they were justified in doing was using the "threat of force" to allow the inspections continue and to let the UN inspectors do their work. He said the intel components of the State Department never would have "signed off" on the discredited info as a reason for going to war.

[Ouabache]

5. Thieleman to Sawyer #4

Sawyer kept making him repeat that he thought it was the president who deliberately deceived and said it was a "shocking" thing to hear.
Her tone though was such that she was non-committal as far as what she would say about it at this time? She had a weird tone in her voice everytime she said "shocking" and since I was listening to this and not watching, I couldn't get an body language clues from either her or Thieleman.

ps- I may not be spelling Thieleman's name correctly.

Greg or George ? Thieleman ?

He is pissed off I can tell. If he is, how many others ?
If he has now spoken out, how many others to follow ?

They really need to get him and others before a Senate investigating committee ASAP ! The Senate signed off on this crap and they should be pissed if they were deliberately deceived !

[Terran]

8. I saw that on TV

and was shocked that he actually said the President deliberately distorted the uranium charge. Thielman came across as very calm and measured--I didn't think he seemed angry, just disgusted, if anything, and very aware of the seriousness of what he was stating and being careful about his words.

Sawyer's reactions were typical for her. She always feigns a sort of gushing shock when anything serious comes up in her interviews. I think that's her way of trying to appear neutral; but really, the woman is much more confortable with fluff reporting than this caliber of story--she just doesn't know what to do with stuff like this. I guess I don't fault her for asking where he stood on the war. He did *not* flat out say he did not support the war; what he said was, he supported the threat of military intervention as a wedge to allow the weapons inspectors time to do their jobs--the most reasonable possible answer, really.

I'm impressed, but of course I wonder if this will go anywhere. There has to be a public investigation and Thielman has to be called as a witness.

[linazelle]

13. Was Sawyer's "Weird Tone" The Same One That She used when...

she interviewed the Dixie Chicks? She's biased in my opinion. When she "did" the Dixie Chicks her "Why Did You Say Those 13 Words..." question spoke volumes. I don't watch her and I stay away from ABC as much as possible.

[RandomKoolzip]

3. Diane Sawyer, who tried to make cutlets of the Dixie Chicks?

Hmmm. Is the tide OFFICIALLY turning? Then again, how many non-liberals will even care?

[NicoleM]

6. Diane is an idiot.

"WHAT? What are you SAYING? What does that MEAN?"

She probably still doesn't think Nixon lied about anything, either.

[alcuno]

7. EXACTLY (and welcome to DU)

Diane (faux surprise) Sawyer.

[Terwilliger]

9. Replaying NOW on the West Coast

replaying SOTU speech at the moment

[Terwilliger]

10. "Deliberate distortion" by the administration!

said George Bush lied

[Punkingal]

11. Is this the first time.....

this guy has spoken out?

[Terwilliger]

12. first time I saw him was on Bill Moyers' NOW program

maybe....4-5 weeks ago?

[HootieMcBoob]

14. Next big thing?

He's really telling it like it is and pulling no punches. This is from a Reuters report:

"As of March 2003, when we began military operations, Iraq posed no imminent threat to either its neighbors or to the United States," Thielmann said.

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=ZMGLK5DTNG4KCCRBAELCFFA?type=topNews&storyID=3064275

[Ouabache]

15. Is there any follow up by other media of this interview ?

since it played on Good Morning America this a.m. ?

:kick: