In October 2002 Bob Graham begged fellow senators to read the "entire" NIE on WMDs.

[madfloridian]

I see there is some posting going on here to defend one candidate by saying another lied. Here is more about Bob Graham's courageous stand against the war.

In October 2002 Bob Graham begged fellow senators to read the "entire" NIE on WMDs.

He told them not just the 25 pages that had been unclassified. There were 90 pages apparently classified that were available for them to read. He told them that invading Iraq would put our country in more danger.

"Friends, I encourage you to read the classified intelligence reports which are much sharper than what is available in declassified form," Sen. Graham reports stating on the floor of the Senate in October 2002.

"We are going to be increasing the threat level against the people of the United States." He warned: "Blood is going to be on your hands"

There are not two ways to read that.

I also remember Bob Graham's rant on October 9, 2002, two days before the IWR vote.

I can't find the archived Palm Beach Post article, nor can I find the archived Miami Herald article that quoted him. But I posted about it way back in 2004. I may have before then, but I can't find it now.

He warned his fellow senators not to vote to go into Iraq. Graham is so mild mannered, so plodding in his manner, so cautious. They should have listened. He can't be the only one that knew the things he knew. He practically had a tantrum with them, was it two days before the vote? I think the vote was the 11th of October.

..."On Oct. 9, 2002, Graham — the guy everyone thought of as quiet, mild-mannered, deliberate, conflict-averse — let loose on his Senate colleagues for going along with President Bush's war against Iraq.

"We are locking down on the principle that we have one evil, Saddam Hussein. He is an enormous, gargantuan force, and that's who we're going to go after," Graham said on the floor. "That, frankly, is an erroneous reading of the world. There are many evils out there, a number of which are substantially more competent, particularly in their ability to attack Americans here at home, than Iraq is likely to be in the foreseeable future."

He told his fellow senators that if they didn't recognize that going to war with Iraq without first taking out the actual terrorists would endanger Americans, "then, frankly, my friends — to use a blunt term — the blood's going to be on your hands."

It was a watershed moment. Gone was the meticulous thinker who would talk completely around and through a problem before answering a question about it...

Telling things that are untrue to hurt one candidate is going to backfire.

Posting things that are not true hurts the credibility of the forum.

[madfloridian]

1. Truth drops quickly and gets ignored.

While things that are meant to smear get new life every few minutes.

[madfloridian]

2. Thanks for the couple of recs....I will keep this kicked.

I know what Bob Graham said. I also know that few bothered to read the 90 pages. I have written about also...will find. It was on a Frontline piece.

[FrenchieCat]

3. It is sad that some have to take a ride in the time machine in order

to understand what is happening now.

Hillary didn't do her due diligence, and there is no indication that she ever has.

Thanks for the post.

[David Zephyr]

4. Thank you. I miss Senator Graham on the national stage.

:thumbsup:

[madfloridian]

13. So do I.. He was hawkish on national security, but sensible about it.

He valued truth rather than falling in line.

[Lochloosa]

22. I miss him on any stage.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. kicked for Graham.

One of the most enduring memories of my mom was how she proudly displayed a photograph of Graham and his family on her refrigerator, and showed it to everyone who came in the kitchen, as if they could miss it. The photograph was sent to her as a thank you for her donation. She had just become an American citizen and was invested in the outcome of the election, for the first time.

[madfloridian]

6. Here are some more articles....only 6 senators apparently read it.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/05/25/204032.aspx

"From NBC's Bob Windrem and Mark Murray
A new book's revelation that Hillary Clinton did not read the CIA National Intelligence Estimate on Iraqi WMD before voting on war authorization should not be a surprise. Most congressmen and senators didn't. And there is a (classified) list of who did and who didn't because members had to visit a secure room -- called the SCIF -- at the Capitol to view it. Members have to sign the document out. In the case of the NIE on Iraq, there were separate logs for the five-page executive summary and the full 90-page NIE.

According to a former senior US intelligence official, "only a handful" of congressmen and senators actually went to the SCIF and signed out the NIE. Most who did were members of the intelligence and armed services committees. Although the log is classified, several senators have admitted either reading or not reading the report. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-WV, of the Senate Intelligence Committee was one who admitted he read it. Among those who have admitted they didn't were Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, D-FL, and Sen. Harry Reid, D-NV, now Senate majority leader.

The Washington Post also reported this back in 2004: "In the fall of 2002, as Congress debated waging war in Iraq, copies of a 92-page assessment of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction sat in two vaults on Capitol Hill, each protected by armed security guards and available to any member who showed up in person, without staff. But only a few ever did. No more than six senators and a handful of House members read beyond the five-page National Intelligence Estimate executive summary, according to several congressional aides responsible for safeguarding the classified material."

But even if Clinton wasn't alone in not reading the NIE, the question arises: Did she do everything possible to have the best information on Iraq WMD before casting her war authorization vote?"


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-boyce/the-iraq-war-vote-was-69_b_50742.html

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/few-senators-read-iraq-nie-report-2007-06-19.html

Most everything points to only 6 senators doing what Graham begged them to do. Read the entire NIE.

It was in a locked room, they had to get permission, but they could have read it.

Anyone who trusted George Bush even a year into his administration should be ashamed. The vote for the IWR was a year and about 9 months in. They should have pushed harder for truth.

[Monty__]

7. As a personal friend of the Graham family

Thank you for bringing this up again.

My Grandfather was heavily involved in South Florida politics from the late 1940's through his death in the early 90's. He was close friends with not only Graham but Robert King High (Liberal Mayor of Miami who ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Florida in 1966) and Dante Fascell who represented part of Miami in the US House from 1954 until 1993 and who refused to sign the Southern Manifesto and opposed Vietnam.

Sorry for the long drawn out story but Graham was a great friend to my grandfather and still is a close friend to my family. I'll end by saying this. If Kerry were to have won in '04, Graham would have had a very high position in his administration and I'd be in Washington now and not Illinois (don't get me wrong, I love Chicago, but I'm just sayin....)

[madfloridian]

8. That is so interesting. Thanks for sharing.

I just realized as I grow older how many of these politicians' and their families I have known through the years. It was just part of growing up, going to school with them, or to the Southern Baptist church with them.

I get so angry at the way people here will just post stuff meant to hurt one candidate or the other.

[4themind]

9. Thank you for your efforts in providing these sources of information

To be honest I haven't had much time on more own to research this, and may have missed out on these reports otherwise

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

10. It was only 5 years ago.

And it was talked about 3 years ago in the last pres. primary.

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” -Winston Churchill

[madfloridian]

11. Churchill was right....a lie goes around the world.

While truth does not.

[Dems Will Win]

12. good work mf

[madfloridian]

14. Graham's a good man.

He's been governor or senator here since I really started paying attention to politics.

[HooptieWagon]

15. k&r

[dsc]

16. I also remember one of his big problems with the war being

that Syria was a bigger threat, to the point he wanted them attacked first.

[madfloridian]

17. No, he did NOT want Syria attacked. He said surgical strikes on terrorist training camps.

I absolutely am getting sick of how people just make stuff up and post it.

[dsc]

18. that would be attacking Syria

sorry but bombing terrorist camps within say New York would be considered attacking us, similarly bombing terrorist camps in Syria would be considered attacking them.

[madfloridian]

20. Yes, whatever you say. Just like invading Iraq....sure it is.

If it makes you feel better to believe that go ahead.

[dsc]

21. I didn't say invade

I said attack. There is a difference.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

19. K&R Thanks for posting ! How's Bob Graham doing?