Democrats to press for Iraq intelligence (there was no "sharing with Dems)

[papau]

Will the Dem's be allowed to get access to pre Iraq war intelligence (Sen. Kennedy urges the release stating, " ' It is essential to get to the bottom of the rush to war in Iraq not only to get the truth, but also because there are other threats on the horizon in Iran, North Korea, and elsewhere.'" Seems the media rarely reads the Robb-Silberman Commission -- appointed by the president -- which reported in March that the Bush daily intel briefs' "daily drumbeat of reports" on Iraq's purported efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction left an "impression of confirming evidence, even when the reports all come from the same source." and while the intelligence in the briefs was not "markedly different" than that in the intelligence summary provided to Congress, the language was ''more alarmist and less nuanced" than it was in the National Intelligence Estimate and that "With their attention-grabbing headlines and drumbeat of repetition, left an impression of many corroborating reports where in fact there were very few sources," the report stated.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/12/14/democrats_to_press_for_iraq_intelligence/

Democrats to press for Iraq intelligence
Counter Bush claim on sharing reports

By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | December 14, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Democrats in Congress this week want to force the White House to release the daily intelligence briefings that President Bush reviewed in the months before the US invasion of Iraq -- an attempt to undercut the president's claim that lawmakers saw the same reports that he did before voting to authorize the war.

Bush has said repeatedly in recent weeks that the senators and House members who gave him the the power to depose Saddam Hussein by force did so because they'd all seen the same CIA assessments and agreed that Iraq's weapons program was a national security threat.

But congressional Democrats point out that they didn't have access to the Presidential Daily Briefs that summarize American intelligence for the president each day -- briefings that were seriously flawed, according to an independent panel. The White House won't allow lawmakers investigating breakdowns in prewar intelligence to review the daily briefs submitted to the president before the invasion.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said that seeing the briefs is the only way lawmakers can determine whether the Bush administration manipulated intelligence to justify the war -- and the best way to ensure that future presidents and Congress are on the same page when it comes to crucial intelligence matters.<snip>

[babylonsister]

1. I wish the Dems would do something! Despite the

dramatic closed-door session they choreographed several weeks ago, they're still being stonewalled. I, for one, would like them to raise a stink about it and demand some accountability from this admin.:grr:

[shraby]

2. Time to call for another closed door session it seems.