http://righteousjackass.blogspot.com/2006/05/im-not-in-intelligence-business.htmlThanks to Paula of the BfD ,
http://www.blogfordemocracy.org/archives/2006/05/rummy_in_the_ho.html#comments, I was able to watch Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld confronted by former CIA agent Ray McGovern over the lies leading up to the invasion of Iraq. If you haven't already, I recomend watching the video via
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/04/rumsfeld.ap/index.html CNN
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/04/rumsfeld-called-out Think Progress (Also of interest is McGovern's take on the incident in a chat with Paula Zahn on CNN,
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/04/cnna.mcgovern/index.html text here).
It must be something to lie all of the time, especially in front of cameras and to the American press and public. Rumsfeld, the President, Dick Cheney, they all lie so often so overtly that I wonder sometimes, if the press and the Administration's political opposition is stunned into innaction. Where do you start? Ok, so anyway, Rumsfeld's lie of the day that no one else seems to have noticed.
"I'm not in the intelligence business." This is a lie. Rummy and others within the Administration, particularly Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, were a little nonplussed with intelligence coming out of the CIA that didn't support the case for war, so they started their own Cabal Intelligence Agency out of the Pentagon called the Office of Special Plans. Jason Leopold of Truthout reports the chicanery of the OSP in
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/112305Z.shtml How Pre-War Iraq Intel Was Cooked:
"A group of civilian employees in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, all of whom are political employees, have long been dissatisfied with the information produced by the established intelligence agencies both inside and outside the Department. That was particularly true, apparently, with respect to the situation in Iraq," Obey said. "As a result, it is reported that they established a special operation within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, which was named the Office of Special Plans. That office was charged with collecting, vetting, and disseminating intelligence completely outside the normal intelligence apparatus. In fact, it appears that the information collected by this office was in some instances not even shared with the established intelligence agencies and in numerous instances was passed on to the National Security Council and the President without having been vetted with anyone other than (the Secretary of Defense)." So let me get this straight, the Administration asks for intelligence on Iraq, the CIA gives it to them, they're dissatisfied with the analysis, so they go looking for information that might have been overlooked, cherry picking individual items till they feel they can go to the legislature, the press, and the American people and make a convincing case for war. Individuals within the CIA are troubled by the misinformation and lies, protest, and are ignored by the administration
and the press. The "Coalition of the Willing" invade, corruption and chaos ensue. No weapons are found, cherry picked analysis is proven to be, cherry picked. Administration officials, like Rumsfeld, blame the CIA for "faulty intelligence." Must be nice to never be called on your bullshit!
Reminds me of Gray Davis, Enron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the California Governor's race.
"...I'd have liked to have seen added was when Rummy was saying Saddam used 'chemical weapons on his own people.' Rumsfeld got Iraq taken off the 'terrorist state' list precisely so he could sell Saddam the ingredients, was there in Baghdad with Saddam when the Kurds were gassed, and recommended against the UN condemning Iraq and Iran for using chemical weapons. Because the US refused to endorse the condemnation, the UN did not act." For more, read Rumsfeld's history with Saddam
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82 here.
Thanks to Mazeppah for finding the Truthout article cited above.