Report says Pentagon manipulated intel

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer 24 minutes ago

WASHINGTON -
Pentagon officials undercut the intelligence community in the run-up to the U.S. invasion of
Iraq by insisting in briefings to the White House that there was a clear relationship between
Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida, the Defense Department's inspector general said Friday.


Acting Inspector General Thomas F. Gimble told the
Senate Armed Services Committee that the office headed by former Pentagon policy chief Douglas J. Feith took "inappropriate" actions in advancing conclusions on al-Qaida connections not backed up by the nation's intelligence agencies.

Gimble said that while the actions of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy "were not illegal or unauthorized," they "did not provide the most accurate analysis of intelligence to senior decision makers" at a time when the White House was moving toward war with Iraq.

"I can't think of a more devastating commentary," said Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070209/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_pentagon_intelligence

VIDEO: http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/news?ch=68276&cl=1849454&lang=en','playerWindow','width=793,height=608,scrollbars=no'

Not that the POS doesn't deserve it, but this is totally CBA (Cover Bush**'s ass) on Gimble's part. Who authorized the creation of the OSP? Who interacted with it within BushCo?

If the OSP's actions weren't authorized then how could they not be illegal?

I guess that is the ultimate question? I think we know the answer to the first part ...

http://www.slate.com/id/2129686/

Much is still to be learned about how intelligence was used and abused in CTEG and OVP. But one story gives a hint of what the historians may find: When I interviewed him several months ago, Powell's former chief of staff Larry Wilkerson recounted the story of a meeting in the White House situation room during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq when policymakers met with top intelligence officials from a number of agencies. After the intelligence officials made their presentations, Douglas Feith "leapt to his feet, pointed to a certain National Intelligence Officer and declared 'You people don't know what you're talking about.' "

Feith had worked for Cheney—together with Scooter Libby—when he was secretary of defense in the administration of George H.W. Bush and, according to former administration sources, was even closer to Rumsfeld than Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was. After that outburst, Feith held up a piece of paper and read aloud an account of al-Qaida's ties with Iraq in the early 1990s. Then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, a man well-known and well-liked in Washington for his gentlemanly manners, looked on, aghast at the scene. Wilkerson told me that after the end of the meeting, he got a copy of the paper and determined it was a newspaper clipping that had been retyped in the vice president's office to be presented as "intelligence."

Browbeating intelligence officials, disregard for the National Security Council's traditional leadership of the interagency process—this kind of behavior, plenty of Bush administration officials privately attest, was typical as the Cheney-Rumsfeld axis that took the country to war. "Who knows," Larry Wilkerson wondered to me, "how many other people they intimidated."

Though according to Wilkerson, Feith was a true believer?

The IG's report is totally wrong. Feith is a patriot, just ask him. Isn't it so telling that bush's path of arrogance and destruction is so incredibly wide it even consumes his allies.

Some middle management type fall guy comes out and takes the blame. What a surprise.

My brain hurts.

!!

:hi:

:kick:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/18384


edit: please rec!!! needs more visibility

:hi:

Thank you Senator Levin.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Levin said the IG report is "very damning" and shows a Pentagon policy shop trying to shape intelligence to prove a link between al-Qaida and Saddam.

Levin has been and will keep pressing on this.

There is nothing more serious than taking a nation to war. NOTHING...The Administration used LIES to launch a war. They knew they could not get the real Intelligence Agencies to ratify their desire to invade Iraq so they formed their own Special Intelligence Agency which disobeyed the Law by not reporting to Congress and went ahead with their very strong desire to launch a War against a sovereign nation that had done nothing to the USA. Everyone I have ever heard talk about Feith says he is dumber than a rock so it is plain they are going to use him for their scape goat but they all should be in prison...

SHOCKED I TELL YOU!!!!

:D

what the hell is going on here.

your point is well taken, and note... sad.

:hi:

:hi:

Yeah, right.

:banghead:

was "Special" because it cherry picked Intell from the CIA to fit an Invasion of a Sovereign Nation-Iraq to force to Congress to grant Busholini power that he should never have been granted. This should be the Corp. Media Headline but it will be back page fodder. Hmmm...I wonder why.

:(

the admin was "cleared" of fixing the intel by this hearing.

Much better headline. Hope this is the one that is used by the MSM.

...but this would have been news in 2003 - can't we think of something else? I mean, honestly. The fact that they lied about the intel in 2003 doesn't change the situation in Iraq in 2007.

a new war with Iran. There are serious issues with Iran, to be sure. But can we afford another go it alone war? Are we being fed the same propogandized/staged/manipulated intel? Are we going to act on a plan like bush's (pre Iraq invasion) to fly a US plane painted to look like it is UN over Iran to provoke an attack on said plane in order to have a justification to invade? (That was shot down by Blair, btw - interesting those Downing Street Memos - you should read them if you haven't already)

To learn we must understand our past to avoid being suckered by the same tactics in the future.

Lot of people dead, lot of damage done, because of this "hyped intel" (some call it lies).

It cannot be forgotten until justice is served, and those responsible held accountable.

No moving on until then.