* admin 'pressure' on CIA, etc. isn't the point

[trof]

There was probably pressure by Bush*/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice, et al, for intelligence agencies to come up with a smoking gun on WMDs, but that will be buried and never come to light. (Unless there's a brave whistle-blower there, which I doubt)

What I think is more important is the bushies' "interpretation" of the intelligence they got and their spinning to the media and the public. That is well documented on tape and in transcripts of their own speeches. That's what should be all over the media now and what the Democratic presidential nominee should run as campaign ads.
They should be tried and found guilty by their own statements.

[salinen]

1. "Whistle-blowers"

in these times are known as "Traitors", and are vilified before the alter of the state run media. Welcome to Happyland.

[Bonobo]

2. I think the whole thing is a shell game to keep our mind off the fact that

Shrub has allowed us to implicitly accept the radical and beyond the pale notion of a justifed preemptive miltiary strike against a sovereign nation that has committed no aggressive act.

Keep your eye on the cups...meanwhile there's nothing underneath ANY of them!

If Sadam was just bluffing about weapons or not...that's the real danger.

[ewagner]

3. How come

nobody has brought up Rummy's Office of Special Plans?

That should blow this whole stupid CIA was wrong argument out of the water/

[Bandit]

4. If creating a whole new intelligence agency ~ OSP

isn't putting pressure on existing intelligent agencies then I don't know what is. It is saying with an "in your face" attitude that they aren't doing the job so they will create an agency that will do the job. No pressure though.

[DrBB]

5. Actually, I'd say this isn't the point either necessarily

Fact is, the "intelligence" wasn't the basis for a goddamn thing they did and it can be proved.

One point: even Kay's report doesn't make any difference: Cheney is still insisting on the same stories debunked months ago. "Intelligence" can't get any clearer than it is after Kay's report, and it makes no difference to his views whatsoever.

Second point: we now know that the contracts for IraqWar were inked TWO YEARS AGO. I.e., intelligence reports one way or another had nothing to do with their intention to make war on Iraq, and the pretence of "deliberation" about it and weighing the "evidence" and talking to the UN was exactly that: a pretence, a farce. Here's the evidence for this.

[Bandit]

6. Yes and actually Richard Perle admitted as much on the Daily Show

He said the real reason was to teach the world a lesson and used Libya as an example of how it is achieving it's goal. He said they would have done it regardless of WMD. He bragged about it even.

[Webster Green]

7. The brave whistle blowers are already out there.....

I was so pissed that I could barely drive my truck while listening to them on "Democracy Now" one morning. They call themselves "Veteran Intelligence Agents for Sanity".

They are:
Ray McGovern
David MacMichael
Ray Close
(and many others)

They made it very clear that there was pressure from Cheney to come up with reports that fit the PNAC agenda.

<snip>
It was a deep insult to the integrity of the intelligence process that, after the Vice President declared on August 26, 2002 that "we know that Saddam has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons," the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) produced during the critical month of September featured a fraudulent conclusion that "most analysts" agreed with Cheney's assertion. This may help explain the anomaly of Cheney's unprecedented "multiple visits" to CIA headquarters at the time, as well as the many reports that CIA and other intelligence analysts were feeling extraordinarily great pressure, accompanied by all manner of intimidation tactics, to concur in that conclusion.
<snip>

More: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16398

[lovedems]

8. Here is a question

David Kay reported to George Tenet, correct? His job was within the CIA. Given that, was David Kay apart of the intelligence gathering or did he view the intelligence AFTER it had been gathered. His job, if I understand it correctly was to find the WMD's and not necessarily gather the information to prove they were there. Is that or is that not a safe assumption? My point, how would he necessarily know what intelligence was hand selected because I am sure Dickhead wasn't openly telling the CIA to give him only the intelligence that fit his argument to go to war. Kay might have only been privy to the info. after Cheney decided what was good vs. bad intelligence.

One more thing, I think Kay is blaming the CIA and bad intelligence to purposefully cut off the arm of the pre-emptive strikes this administration wants to engage in. He can't do anything about Iraq, the invasion is done, but he can do something about Syria, Iran and any other countries the administration has on their list. Maybe this is purposeful on his part.

[wuushew]

9. How long is Tenet going to take this shit

Kay is calling the CIA a bunch of incompetent boobs, if you were a CIA employee how long would you remain silent? Since Tenet is already the longest serving director of the agency I expect to see some acrimonious venom launched at * if and when he chooses to "retire".

[lovedems]

11. My dittohead brother gladly blames Tenet because "he is the only holdover

from the Clinton administration" so in actuality, it is Clinton's fault by default.

I agree that they will blame him for that reason alone but I don't for one second think the responsiblity (or lack thereof) lies squarly on his shoulders. I think you need to look at the WH.

[Hubert Flottz]

10. There is at least one whistle blower hitting the fan right now!

She is tied in with the four ladies from New York who got the 9/11 investigation started! She was fired by the FBI and threatened by them at the time she was fired! She is not a happy camper and she is telling some very intresting inside things!

The only whistleblower the Repubs want to talk about, once wore a blue spotted dress!