Senate Intelligence Committee rebukes Bush, Cheney on prewar claims

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"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," said Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The panel's reproach, the most pointed on pre-invasion intelligence, doesn't call for penalties or a follow-up inquiry.
By Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 6, 2008

WASHINGTON -- In a long-delayed report, the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday rebuked President Bush and Vice President **** Cheney for making prewar claims -- particularly that Iraq had close ties to Al Qaeda -- that were not supported by available intelligence.

The report, which was opposed by most Republicans on the panel, says the president and other members of his administration repeatedly exaggerated evidence of an Al Qaeda connection to take advantage of the charged climate after Sept. 11. It is the most pointed reproach to date of the Bush administration's use of intelligence to build the case for the Iraq war. But the document stops short of calling for any follow-up investigation or sanction.

"In making the case for war, the administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when, in reality, it was unsubstantiated, contradicted or even nonexistent," said Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), chairman of the intelligence panel. "Sadly, the Bush administration led the nation into war under false pretenses."

In a second report, the committee provides new details on clandestine, post-Sept. 11 meetings between Defense Department officials and Iranian dissidents seeking support for a plan to overthrow the Islamic regime. The report faults national security advisor Stephen Hadley and others for their roles in an effort that was hidden from the CIA.

The report on the Bush administration's case for war, 170 pages long, reads like a catalog of erroneous claims. The document represents the most detailed assessment to date of whether those assertions were backed by classified intelligence reports available to senior officials at the time.

The report largely exonerates Bush administration officials for some of their prewar assertions, including claims that Baghdad had stockpiles of illegal chemical and biological weapons and was pursuing a nuclear bomb. Even though those claims were subsequently proved wildly inaccurate, the report notes, they were largely consistent with U.S. intelligence at the time.

But the report says the Bush administration veered away from its own intelligence community's conclusions in two key areas: Iraq's relationship with Al Qaeda and the difficulty of pacifying Iraq after a U.S. invasion.

For the whole story go to http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-intel6-2008jun06,0,7603497.story

Now all the warmongers can say "well we are already there now so we may as well finish", finish what? Killing a bunch of innocent people? In this scenerio even evil Saddam is an innocent to what we did to him and his country.

Oh come on now! You expect us to believe these guys have any credibility???? You expect the very partisan DEMS to say anything but rebukes???? They are so hateful to even want checks & balances.

I'm not sure what's more pathetic...the liars or the people who believe them.

Bush didn't lie. He was given the same info everyone else was & they UNANIMOUSLY voted to support the prez. For DEMS it was only for POLITCAL expedience. It's hypocrisy for them to point fingers now. You should be wise to their partisan election spin by now.

La, la, la, la, la,