http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,125123,00.html
No Evidence of 'Political Pressure'
The committee found no evidence that the intelligence
community's mischaracterization or misinterpretation
"was the result of politics or pressure," Roberts
said. "In the end, what the president and the Congress
used to send the country to war was info that was
provided by the intelligence community and that
information was flawed."
The Partisan Rift
But in a sign that Democrats are at odds with
Republicans over just how strong a role the White
House may have played in allegedly "shaping" the
intelligence, Rockefeller said the report simply
doesn't recognize the "intense pressure" the
intelligence community felt from the administration to
support White House policies when "the most senior
officials in the Bush administration" had already
stated their conclusions.
"It was clear to us in this room � that they had made
up their mind to go to war," Rockefeller said, adding
that he regretted his vote authorizing the war.
Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett told FOX News that
Rockefeller's comments were "quite disappointing."
"I think he used it as an opportunity to try to score
political points against the administration," Bartlett
said, although Rockefeller earlier insisted, "it's not
politics, it's a matter of policy."
"The equation the president had to face in a 9/11
world is, are we going to face threats or are we going
to let them fester?" Bartlett added. "We do know that
Saddam Hussein was a threat and it was the right thing
to do to remove him from power."
--- Doug White <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The fact that the Republicans are delaying the most
> damning part of the
> investigative report to after the election takes
> away considerable credibility
> IMHO
>
> .
>
>
> Sen Rockefeller:
>
> "Now, the report does an excellent job of pointing
> out the
> intelligence community's shortcomings. I have to
> say it is only an
> incomplete picture of what occurred during the
> national debate over
> the decision to invade Iraq. The report we are
> releasing today is a
> first phase of the two- part committee
> investigation. Regrettably,
> whereas I consider reform incredibly important, I
> also consider the
> nature of the interaction or the pressure or the
> shaping of
> intelligence by endless numbers of public
> statements emanating from
> all levels high up in the administration,
> virtually saying that, Time
> has run out, you know, mushroom cloud, grave and
> growing, imminent by
> some, evidence supports the fact that they are
> developing their
> nuclear weapons program -- all the rest of it.
>
> That whole aspect is being relegated to the second
> part of our report
> and I regret that. I felt that we should and could
> have addressed all
> of these matters as a single matter, because under
> the rules of the
> committee we can do that. But that was not
> possible and so we moved
> forward. We've moved forward and produced a very
> good piece of work.
> The central issue of how intelligence on Iraq was,
> in this senator's
> opinion, exaggerated by the Bush administration
> officials was
> relegated to that second phase, as yet unbegun, of
> the committee
> investigation, along with other issues."
>
> >From page 5 of the link below, a transcript of
> the press conference. I
> am not going to cut and paste the whole thing. You
> guys who dont like
> to click are just going to have to give your index
> finger some
> exercise.
>
>
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/09/politics/09TEXT-IRAQ-INTEL.html?pagewanted=1
>
> Dana
>
>
>
>
>
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