You know how democracies thrive on a well informed public?
Again, it's obvious that sharing the truth is counterproductive to our war
on terror.
http://harpers.org/sb-intelligence-community-congress.html
Intelligence Community to Congress: "The dog ate my national intelligence
estimate"
Posted on Sunday, January 21, 2007. By Ken Silverstein.
Back in July, I reported that, in spite of pressure from CIA analysts,
intelligence czar John Negroponte was blocking a new National Intelligence
Estimate (NIE) on Iraq. The CIA describes an NIE as "the most authoritative
written judgment concerning a national security issue," and a fresh one was
badly needed because the last one on Iraq, which was completed in 2004, and
promptly leaked to the New York Times. [1] Negroponte was said to fear that
given the worsening situation in Iraq a new NIE would, of necessity, be
deeply pessimistic, and that such an assessment might get leaked and
embarrass the Bush Administration during last fall's elections.
Soon after that story was posted, six U.S. senators called for a new NIE on
Iraq, and in August the Senate passed an amendment demanding that one be
prepared. I've just learned that-months later and to the immense frustration
of Congress-the new NIE is still not ready.
The situation came to a head last week, during a closed-door session of the
Senate Armed Services Committee. This committee expected to be briefed on
the long-awaited NIE by an official from the National Intelligence Council
(NIC), which coordinates NIEs by gathering input from all of the nation's
various intelligence agencies. But the NIC official turned up empty-handed
and told the committee that the intelligence community hadn't been able to
complete the NIE because it had been dealing with the many demands placed
upon it by the Bush Administration to help prepare the new military strategy
on Iraq. He then said that not all of the relevant agencies had contributed
to the NIE, which has made it impossible to put together a finished product.
Apparently these "dog ate my homework" alibis were badly received by both
the Democrats and the Republicans on the Committee, and those in attendance
now believe that senior intelligence officials are stalling because an NIE
will be bleak enough to present a significant political liability. Given the
Bush Administration's "surge" policy and the extraordinary danger faced by
U.S. troops in Iraq (27 U.S. servicemembers died there this weekend), the
need for a new NIE is urgent. The intelligence community is doing the nation
a disservice by making Congress wait for the truth.
.
|
|
| User: "Perseid Rocks" |
|
| Title: Re: Same old same old |
28 Jan 2007 01:32:03 AM |
|
|
After Much Chewing of Cud and Cogitation, "John Lemke"
<jflemke@locallink.net> Spat the Words
But the NIC
official turned up empty-handed and told the committee that the
intelligence community hadn't been able to complete the NIE because it
had been dealing with the many demands placed upon it by the Bush
Administration to help prepare the new military strategy on Iraq.
Given the Bush Administration's "surge" policy and the
extraordinary danger faced by U.S. troops in Iraq (27 U.S.
servicemembers died there this weekend), the need for a new NIE is
urgent.
Apparently Bush believes that surging the troops, covering his
own *****, giving the appearance of success in Iraq, is more important
than US National Security. Perhaps we should just shut down the US
Federal government until Bush decides it's ok to restart everything.
.
|
|
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
