about that painting himself into the corner thing… »
« the other side of the coin…
pretending he just doesn’t see…

Posted on Tuesday 2 June 2009

"There is no question we all relied on flawed intelligence. But, there is a fundamental difference between relying on incorrect intelligence and deliberately painting a picture to the American people that you know is not fully accurate."

CNN
June 1, 2009

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that he does not believe Saddam Hussein was involved in the planning or execution of the September 11, 2001, attacks. He strongly defended the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq, however, arguing that Hussein’s previous support for known terrorists was a serious danger after 9/11.

Cheney, in an appearance at the National Press Club, also said he is intent on speaking out in defense of the Bush administration’s national security record because "a clear understanding of policies that worked [in protecting the United States] is essential." "I do not believe and have never seen any evidence to confirm that [Hussein] was involved in 9/11. We had that reporting for a while, [but] eventually it turned out not to be true," Cheney conceded.
For starters, they never had that reporting – ever. But that aside, Cheney is reluctantly admitting here that Saddam Hussein was not involved in the 911 attack, finally, after seven years of saying otherwise. I’m not going to bother to look up the instances, because unless you never watch television, you’ve heard him say it yourself. At least, he’s saying something that’s true. But, he can’t dwell on the truth too long. After all, he’s former Vice President Dick Cheney:
But Hussein was "somebody who provided sanctuary and safe harbor and resources to terrorists… [It] is, without question, a fact."

Cheney restated his claim that "there was a relationship between al Qaeda and Iraq that stretched back 10 years. It’s not something I made up. … We know for a fact that Saddam Hussein was a sponsor – a state sponsor – of terror. It’s not my judgment. That was the judgment of our [intelligence community] and State Department." Cheney identified former CIA Director George Tenet as the "prime source of information" on the relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda. Tenet "testified, if you go back and check the record, in the fall of [2002] before the Senate Intelligence Committee – in open session – that there was a relationship," Cheney said…

Notice, in spinning this whopper, he’s not saying, "George Tenet told me …" or "In meeting with the Director of the C.I.A., we were repeatedly informed that …" What he’s saying amounts to something like, "I’ve combed the records and I found where George Tenet testified to the SSCI that …" There are so many things to say about these comments, it’s hard to know where to start. Recall that the Campaign for the Invasion of Iraq began on September 8, 2002 with  an article by Judith Miller in the New York Times [U.S. Says Hussein Intensifies Quest for A-Bomb Parts], Dick Cheney‘s appearance on Meet the Press, Condoleeza Rice‘s appearance on CNN with Wolf Blitzer, Colin Powell appearing on Fox News, with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Myers thrown in for good measure.  At that point, George Tenet had only testified in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee in a Secret Session on September 5. In that session, he was confronted with the fact that there was no National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, and the Senators insisted on having one – which he reviews on September 24 and presents on October 1. I can’t locate the "open session" Cheney referred to yesterday, but here’s a letter they filed a week later [October 7, 2002]:

Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, DC
October 7, 2002

The Honorable Bob Graham
Chairman
Select Committee on Intelligence
United States Senate
Washington, DC. 20510

…

Regarding Senator Bayh’s question of Iraqi links to al- Qa’ida, Senators could draw from the following points for unclassified discussions:

  • Our understanding of the relationship between Iraq and al- Qa’ida is evolving and is based on sources of varying reliability. Some of the information we have received comes from detainees, including some of high rank.
  • We have solid reporting of senior level contacts between Iraq and al-Qa’ida going back a decade.
  • Credible information indicates that Iraq and al-Qa’ida have discussed safe haven and reciprocal non-aggression.
  • Since Operation Enduring Freedom, we have solid evidence of the presence in Iraq of al-Qa’ida members, including some that have been in Baghdad.
  • We have credible reporting that al-Qa’ida leaders sought contacts in Iraq who could help them acquire WMD capabilities. The reporting also stated that Iraq has provided training to al-Qa’ida members in the areas of poisons and gases and making conventional bombs.
  • Iraq’s increasing support to extremist Palestinians, coupled with growing indications of a relationship with al- Qa’ida, suggest that Baghdad’s links to terrorists will increase, even absent US military action.
    Sincerely,
    [signed:] John McLaughlin (For)
    George J. Tenet
    Director of Central Intelligence

In July 2004, the Senate Intelligence Committee released Phase I of its report [Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence on the U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq]. Phase II, the report on the Administration’s handling of the lead-up to the Invasion of Iraq was, however, not forthcoming. Senator Pat Roberts stalled until after the 2006 elections when the Chairmanship changed. Senator Jay Rockerfeller finally released that report in June 2008. So we don’t have to wait for some more talented researcher than I to chase down Cheney’s cherry-picked and distorted references, we have the report of the Senators who had six years to do it for us. Here’s their report summary:

Press Release of Intelligence Committee
Senate Intelligence Committee Unveils Final Phase II Reports on Prewar Iraq Intelligence
– Two Bipartisan Reports Detail Administration Misstatements on Prewar Iraq Intelligence, and Inappropriate Intelligence Activities by Pentagon Policy Office –
June 5, 2008

“Before taking the country to war, this Administration owed it to the American people to give them a 100 percent accurate picture of the threat we faced.  Unfortunately, our Committee has concluded that the Administration made significant claims that were not supported by the intelligence,” Rockefeller said.  “In making the case for war, the Administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent.  As a result, the American people were led to believe that the threat from Iraq was much greater than actually existed.”

“It is my belief that the Bush Administration was fixated on Iraq, and used the 9/11 attacks by al Qa’ida as justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein. To accomplish this, top Administration officials made repeated statements that falsely linked Iraq and al Qa’ida as a single threat and insinuated that Iraq played a role in 9/11.   Sadly, the Bush Administration led the nation into war under false pretenses.  

“There is no question we all relied on flawed intelligence.  But, there is a fundamental difference between relying on incorrect intelligence and deliberately painting a picture to the American people that you know is not fully accurate.   

“These reports represent the final chapter in our oversight of prewar intelligence.  They complete the story of mistakes and failures – both by the Intelligence Community and the Administration – in the lead up to the war.  Fundamentally, these reports are about transparency and holding our government accountable, and making sure these mistakes never happen again,” Rockefeller added. 

The Committee’s report cites several conclusions in which the Administration’s public statements were NOT supported by the intelligence. They include:
  • 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
    Yes, ‘n’ how many times can a man turn his head,
    Pretending he just doesn’t see?
    The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
    The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
    Bob Dylan [Blowing in the Wind]
It’s clear that former Vice President Cheney isn’t going to stop spinning his yarns, and I guess I think that there’s no recourse than for all of us to refute them until he’s painted into a corner. His comments at the National Press Club yesterday are simply not true. He recants on an old lie, then trots out a new one. For nearly seven years, he has continued to insist on a fabrication that has been parsed and pored over countless times, yet he’s still at it. And no matter how sparse the audience for hearing that this man is little more than a well-spoken con man, it needs to be said until he’s backed into a situation where he has no more wiggle room.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says former Vice President Dick Cheney’s claims – that classified CIA memos show enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding worked – are wrong.

Levin, speaking at the Foreign Policy Association’s annual dinner in New York on Wednesday, said an investigation by his committee into detainee abuse charges over the use of the techniques – now deemed torture by the Obama administration – "gives the lie to Mr. Cheney’s claims."

The Michigan Democrat told the crowd that the two CIA documents that Cheney wants released "say nothing about numbers of lives saved, nor do the documents connect acquisition of valuable intelligence to the use of abusive techniques."

"I hope that the documents are declassified, so that people can judge for themselves what is fact, and what is fiction," he added…

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