Phase II

The Senate intel committee's much delayed Phase II report on pre-war intelligence on Iraq is just out.

Here are some of the relevant details:

--Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa'ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa'ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by the intelligence.
--Statements by the President and the Vice President indicating that Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted by available intelligence information.

--Statements by President Bush and Vice President Cheney regarding the postwar situation in Iraq, in terms of the political, security, and economic, did not reflect the concerns and uncertainties expressed in the intelligence products.

--Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq's chemical weapons production capability and activities did not reflect the intelligence community's uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing.

--The Secretary of Defense's statement that the Iraqi government operated underground WMD facilities that were not vulnerable to conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply buried was not substantiated by available intelligence information.

--The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President repeatedly claimed.

Nothing we didn't already know, I suppose, but it's nice to see it in an official document.

Originally posted by TheSkipper
The Senate intel committee's much delayed Phase II report on pre-war intelligence on Iraq is just out.

Here are some of the relevant details:

--Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa'ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa'ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by hing we didn't already know, I suppose, but it's nice to see it in an official document.

Originally posted by TheSkipper
The Senate intel committee's much delayed Phase II report on pre-war intelligence on Iraq is just out.

Here are some of the relevant details:

--Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa'ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa'ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by ...[text shortened]... hing we didn't already know, I suppose, but it's nice to see it in an official document.

Originally posted by SMSBear716
(laughs) and in your humble opinion, would the US Senate Select committee on Intelligence possibly be pushing their own agenda?
Take a look at the list of members and be honest. I saw Babs Mikulski (aka the Troll), one of my former Senators from when I lived in Maryland, on the list and burst out laughing.

I looked at the Republicans in the group and ...[text shortened]... Warner was ok in his younger days, I think senility crept up on him about 10 years ago though.

Originally posted by FMF
Hey, zeeblebot. If the members of the Senate intel committee donate their recent pay cheques to some worthy cause, will you pre-emptively take back whatever it was you were going to counterattackingly accuse them of?

Originally posted by zeeblebot
SMS is doing fine ... Skipper hasn't provided a cut-and-paste or even a link, to argue against.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080606/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iran_intelligence;_ylt=Anv_VYYVjfrLbOgBHEdQEtis0NUE

Report accuses Bush of misrepresenting Iraq intel By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 44 minutes ago

...

The Senate report, however, found that intelligence supported most of the administration's statements about Iraq before the war. But officials often did not mention the level of dissension or uncertainty in the intelligence agencies about the information they were presenting.

Two Republicans, Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia Snowe of Maine, endorsed the report.

The committee's five other Republicans, however, assailed it as a partisan exercise. They accused Democrats of covering for their own members, including Rockefeller and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who made similar statements about Iraq based on the same intelligence the Bush administration used.

"It is ironic that the Democrats would knowingly distort and misrepresent the committee's findings and the intelligence in an effort to prove that the administration distorted and mischaracterized the intelligence," said Sen. Christopher Bond of Missouri, the committee's top Republican.

A second report issued by the committee Thursday says Pentagon officials concealed from U.S. intelligence agencies potentially useful tips from Iranian agents in 2001, including that Tehran allegedly sent hit teams to Afghanistan to kill Americans.

...

Originally posted by TheSkipper
It's not like it is hard to find, but if you want me to hold your hand...

http://media.mcclatchydc.com/smedia/2008/06/05/10/Iraq-phase2publicstatements.source.prod_affiliate.91.pdf

Originally posted by TheSkipper
The Senate intel committee's much delayed Phase II report on pre-war intelligence on Iraq is just out.

Here are some of the relevant details:

--Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa'ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa'ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by ...[text shortened]... hing we didn't already know, I suppose, but it's nice to see it in an official document.