Levin on the trail

[Az]

From MWO:
LEVIN: Well, I would like to wait for the end of the investigation to reach a conclusion as to whether Tenet should go. I'm obviously dissatisfied with him in this regard, but also in other aspects as well. But who is pushing Tenet? This statement that Tenet made and that the White House has reacted to really raises the key question here. Tenet was pushing back against pressure from the White House. But who in the White House, or who at the National Security Council, was pressing him to make a statement that they didn't believe was accurate, by putting the words in the mouth of the British?

You can't avoid a statement's impact or the inaccuracy of that impact by just saying, "The British have learned that the Iraqis are trying to seek uranium from the Africans."

BLITZER: So...

LEVIN: Let me just finish this, if you would, Wolf, because this is a very significant point. You can't just say that the British learned something if you yourself don't believe it and if you tried to persuade the British they were wrong.

That is highly misleading. It is intended to create a false impression. And someone in the White House was pushing the CIA. The CIA finally concurred, to use Tenet's word. They shouldn't have. But the White House should not have been pushing to create a misleading statement.

BLITZER: Well, let me ask you, Senator, what do you suspect, Senator Levin? Who was pushing Tenet?

LEVIN: People at the NSC, I assume.

BLITZER: Who?

LEVIN: We don't know that, and that's the reason we need an investigation or an inquiry. That's exactly one of the purposes of the inquiry.

BLITZER: Senator Levin, let me read to you what Senator Pat Roberts, your chairman, the current chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said on Friday just before Tenet released that lengthy statement accepting responsibility: "What concerns me most, however, is what appears to be a campaign of press leaks by the CIA in an effort to discredit the president." Those are pretty strong words coming from the chairman.

LEVIN: I mean, he might know about those press leaks. I don't think that that's really the issue here. The issue here is the accuracy and the objectivity of intelligence and whether or not the CIA was exaggerating, but also whether or not that there are people at the National Security Council, at the White House, who were pressing the CIA to concur in a statement which was an attempt to mislead.

And that is something which has to be routed out here. It's not enough just to simply say that the CIA has accepted responsibility. I am glad they've accepted their share. But it is at least equally important --at least equally important -- to find out who was putting the pressure on the CIA to go along with something that the CIA did not believe in.

BLITZER: Does Condoleezza Rice, Senator Levin, share some of the blame for this flap?

LEVIN: Even to this day she says that the statement was technically accurate. She doesn't yet acknowledge what is so obvious, it seems to me, that you cannot make a statement which you believe is untrue by saying somebody else has learned that something has happened, creating an impression that it is true, a false impression that something's true.

She, to this day, does not acknowledge why that is wrong. It is simply a misleading way to approach the truth.

[bif]

1. Go Carl!

BTW: What's MWO?

[5thGenDemocrat]

2. I think Sen Levin has been waiting a L-O-O-N-G time for this

And he has the intelligence (in both senses of the word), the dedication, the connections, the seniority and the inclination to get to the bottom of this coverup. Someone is going to be wearing Sen Levin's right brogan in their ass before this is done.
John
But, Az -- you're from Michigan. You already know this.
ON EDIT: MWO = Media Whores Online.

[DrBB]

3. Levin keeps his EYE on the BALL

Rock ON CARL!!! He gets a seat next to Byrd in the pantheon, far as I'm concerned. I've been posting that he seems to be using a prosecutor's instinct for the best way into this thing, despite some statements that some people thought indicated he was maybe going soft on it. Was a bit worried myself that I was misreading him. But this makes me think I was right to trust him. He is EXACTLY RIGHT on this and it is NOT going away, whatever Shrump and Liar Fleischer say.