Complete archives at http://www.sitbot.net/

Please let us stay on topic and be civil.

OM




SPONSORED LINKS
United state bankruptcy court western district of texas United state life insurance United state patent
United state patent search United states patent office United state flag


YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS




--- Begin Message ---
http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=130611
Intelligence Failures
Thursday, March 16, 2006 - Bangor Daily News

The Senate Intelligence Committee stands in the middle of some of the most
important work Congress will do this year. It also stands in the way. Not
only has it failed to complete its work on investigating how the White House
used intelligence leading up to the war in Iraq, it has offered only a weak
response to the administration's warrantless wiretaps. The committee's
seeming lack of direction at precisely the time intelligence is the focus of
the war on terrorism and at the heart of the debate over the reach of
executive powers is inexcusable.

Committee Chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas defended its work the other day,
saying that the second phase of its report on intelligence leading to the
Iraq war "has been ongoing since we began the effort shortly after the
committee released its unanimous report on the Intelligence Community's
prewar assessments on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs."

The second report was expected in the fall of 2004 and was to examine, among
other things, whether statements made by officials were substantiated by the
intelligence. It was also to look at the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans,
a former intelligence unit that reportedly disagreed with conclusions of the
CIA.

In the March 4 edition of the National Journal, reporter Murray Waas points
to important instances when the president disregarded the intelligence. In
one, the president was given a one-page summary of the National Intelligence
Estimate in October 2002 that stated the Energy Department and the State
Department's Bureau of Intelligence believed the much-disputed aluminum
tubes purchased by Iraq were "intended for conventional weapons."

But despite that conclusion the president and his cabinet continued to
assert the tubes were for gas centrifuges to enrich uranium for nuclear
weapons. It isn't news that the White House was wrong, but it is important
that the Senate investigate the facts around the president's decision to
ignore specific intelligence.

Similarly, by January 2003, reports Mr. Waas, a second classified report
that included a summary of a National Intelligence Estimate stated that U.S.
intelligence agencies unanimously concluded Saddam Hussein would be unlikely
to attack the United States unless "ongoing military operations risked the
imminent demise of his regime," the report said. The Bush administration,
through numerous speeches, press conferences and interviews, portrayed very
different conditions from what its own intelligence was reporting.

The Senate committee's capitulation on warrantless wiretapping - agreeing to
have a subcommittee informed, maybe, of some National Security Agency
activity and canceling a possible investigation of the wiretapping - was
similarly disappointing. The full committee is supposed to have oversight
responsibilities. Simply because the administration denied them that ability
is no reason to surrender it in part now. Sen. Olympia Snowe, a member of
the committee, said an investigation was still possible, which is better
than nothing.

Neither Republicans nor Democrats have shone in the committee's gridlock.
But Congress and the nation need it to lead on difficult issues, and if a
new committee membership is needed next year, both parties should consider
it.





-__ ___ _ ___ __ ___ _ _ _ __  
/-_|-0-\-V-/-\|-|-__|-|-|-/-_| 
\_-\--_/\-/|-\\-|-_||-V-V-\_-\ 
|__/_|--//-|_|\_|___|\_A_/|__/ 

 SPY NEWS is OSINT newsletter and discussion list associated to 
Mario's Cyberspace Station - The Global Intelligence News Portal
http://mprofaca.cro.net/
http://osint.mywebhut.com/

######## CAUTION! #########
 Since you are receiving and reading documents, news stories,
comments and opinions not only from so called (or self-proclaimed) 
"reliable sources", but also a lot of possible misinformation collected
by Spy News moderator and subscribers and posted to Spy News
for OSINT purposes - it should be a serious reason (particularly to
journalists and web publishers) to think twice before using it for their
story writing, further publishing or forwarding throughout Cyberspace.

To unsubscribe:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]

*** FAIR USE NOTICE: This message contains copyrighted material whose use has 
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Spy News is making it 
available without profit to SPY NEWS eGroup members who have expressed a prior 
interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the 
understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their 
activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice 
and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational 
purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted 
material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish 
to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair 
use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

 SPY NEWS home page:
 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spynews

 Mario Profaca
 mario.profaca[at]zg.htnet.hr
 SPY NEWS owner, editor 
 and discussion moderator

 
Yahoo! Groups Links



 




--- End Message ---

Reply via email to