**McCain did NOT read Oct. 2002 Iraq NIE- and he wants to tutor Obama on national security?

[npincus]

Now that McClellan has validated the war critics' view on the folly of Iraq, it is time to REVIVE this fact: McCain, all gung-ho go to war with SOMEBODY, did not read the October 2002 Iraq NIE report prior to handing over authority to declare war to a... CHIMP.

John McCain has the NERVE to offer to tutor Obama on matters of national security and attack his judgegment and experience handling foregon affairs, namely the Iraq War, when it was OBAMA who had the superior judgementand and whose anti-war position was the RIGHT one. Furthermore, Mccain continues to boast about his ability in matters of national security... well, chew on THIS: John McCain chose to had b8sh the authority to start pre-emptive war based on assumptions that were challenged in the October 2002 NIE report which HE DID NOT TROUBLE HIMSLEF TO READ.

Take all the past and current McCain quotations about the consideration, judgement and experience it takes to lead a nation into war The SLAM-DUNK ad of GE Season 2008.



chart from: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/few-senators-read-iraq-nie-report-2007-06-19.html


Here are a few un-redacted passages from the original NIE that McCain DIDN'T read. Do YOU see anything here that would give you second thoughts about going to war?

National Intelligence Estimate
Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction
October 2002, Top Secret
Source: CIA declassification release under FOIA, June 1, 2004
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB129/nie.pdf








http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/few-senators-read-iraq-nie-report-2007-06-19.html

Critics of the war suggest that more senators may have voted against the war authorization had they had read the full report.

Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, one of the senators who read the report and a staunch critic of the war, said the findings were “enough to have me vote against going to war in Iraq.”

<snip>

Even some who did not read the full report say the briefings were enough to leave them unconvinced.

“After all the briefings, I simply was not convinced that the Iraqi weapons program posed an imminent threat to our country,” said Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who viewed a draft copy during a closed hearing weeks before the vote.






http://www.wcsh6.com/news/elections/article.aspx?storyid=62586

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Sam Brownback of Kansas both admitted Tuesday night they voted to authorize the U.S. military invasion of Iraq without reading the formal National Intelligence Estimate in advance.

The confession drew a jab from former Gov. Jim Gilmore of Virginia in the opening moments of a presidential campaign debate. Members of Congress "ought to read at least that kind of material," he said.

Rep. Duncan Hunter of California said he had, the only member of Congress on the debate stage to make the claim.

The war dominated the opening moments of the debate, two nights after Democratic presidential hopefuls stood on the same stage at St. Anselm College in the nation's first primary state.





http://www.ontheissues.org/Archive/2007_GOP_St_Anselm_John_McCain.htm
John McCain in 2007 GOP debate at St. Anselm College, sponsored by CNN & WMUR

Q: Arguably, going to war is the most important decision a member of the Senate can make. Did you read the National Intelligence Estimate, which included all the caveats, on whether or not there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?

McCAIN: I did not read that particular document. I received hundreds of briefings, hundreds of hours of study and background and information on it. And the fact is, that the sanctions were breaking down.

Q: Gov. Gilmore, you chaired the commission on Iraq. Do you think it was appropriate that members of Congress would authorize the president to go to war without reading that NIE?

GILMORE: I think the people who are in Congress who are responsible for sending this country to war, with the enormous dangers that it has geopolitically and strategically, ought to read at least that kind of material. I know they get a lot of stuff and they can't read everything.

*** SEE Gilmore's response on YouTube- would make a GREAT anti-Mccain ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNDfNhfc93Q





http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/05/25/204032.aspx

The Washington Post also reported this back in 2004: "In the fall of 2002, as Congress debated waging war in Iraq, copies of a 92-page assessment of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction sat in two vaults on Capitol Hill, each protected by armed security guards and available to any member who showed up in person, without staff. But only a few ever did. No more than six senators and a handful of House members read beyond the five-page National Intelligence Estimate executive summary, according to several congressional aides responsible for safeguarding the classified material."

But even if Clinton wasn't alone in not reading the NIE, the question arises: Did she do everything possible to have the best information on Iraq WMD before casting her war authorization vote?




http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/06/05/214913.aspx

From NBC's Mark Murray
McCain just admitted he didn't read the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate... Brownback said he didn't remember reading it, either.

[KansDem]

1. Interesting statistics

By my reckoning:

Of those Senators who read the NIE before voting:
14 were Dems
8 were Repubs

Of those Senators who didn't read the NIE before voting:
19 were Dems
19 were Repubs

Those voting "Yea" who read the report:
3 were Dems
8 were Repubs

Those voting "Nay" who read the report:
10 were Dems
0 were Repubs

Those voting "Yea" who didn't read the report:
14 were Dems
19 were Repubs

Those voting "Nay" who didn't read the report
6 were Dems
0 were Repubs