Whil the media (the liberal media, folks, if you think this media is liberal, you are living under a rock!) gives perjurer Rice a pass!
mediamatters.org
Media now mum on Rice's apparent falsehoods
Since President George W. Bush nominated national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to succeed Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, major news outlets have produced numerous reviews and assessments of Rice's record during Bush's first term. But these reports have generally omitted mention of Rice's numerous apparently false statements, even when the reviews were conducted by outlets that originally broke the news of the statements in question.
Iraq's aluminum tubes were "only really suited for nuclear weapons"
In The New York Times' large-scale investigation of the intelligence regarding Iraq's purchase of aluminum tubes, the paper reported on October 3, 2004, that Rice had misrepresented the state of intelligence on the tubes. Prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the White House and parts of the intelligence community had promoted the purchase as crucial evidence that then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had restarted his nuclear weapons program.
The tubes were "only really suited for nuclear weapons programs," Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, explained on CNN on Sept. 8, 2002. "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."
But almost a year before, Ms. Rice's staff had been told that the government's foremost nuclear experts seriously doubted that the tubes were for nuclear weapons, according to four officials at the Central Intelligence Agency and two senior administration officials, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity. The experts, at the Energy Department, believed the tubes were likely intended for small artillery rockets.
The Times did not mention this incident when reporting on Rice's recent nomination; nor did the paper note other instances in which Rice's truthfulness has been challenged. A separate analysis of Bush's new Cabinet appointments did mention that Rice would likely face questioning in confirmation hearings about "what appeared to be her failures either to warn Mr. Bush about flawed prewar intelligence regarding Iraq's weapons programs or, as Secretary of State Colin L. Powell did, to make dogged efforts of her own to ascertain its accuracy."
Cox News Service also predicted that Rice would face questions about her statements on the tubes. A USA Today article on Rice's nomination recalled her statements on the tubes, as did a Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service editorial originally published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Journal Sentinel editorial board opined: "If outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell will be remembered for his 'you break it, you own it' advice to the president, Rice regrettably will be remembered for her assertion, which she should have known to be false, that those infamous aluminum tubes 'are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs, centrifuge programs' in Iraq."
Despite the Journal's prediction, few media outlets have "remembered" Rice's assertion or reported it in the context of her nomination for higher office.
"This August 6th PDB was in response to the president's questions"
On March 25, 2004, The Washington Post debunked Rice's longstanding claim that the famous August 6, 2001, presidential daily brief (PDB) entitled "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in U.S." came in response to a specific request for a summary of potential Al Qaeda plans to attack the United States following a summer of elevated threat reports.
The CIA now says that a controversial August 2001 briefing summarizing potential attacks on the United States by al Qaeda was not requested by President Bush, as Rice and others had long claimed. ... After the highly classified document's existence was first revealed in news reports in May 2002, Rice held a news conference in which she suggested that Bush had requested the briefing because of his keen concern about elevated terrorist threat levels that summer.
Beyond the news conference that the Post mentions (where Rice's statements about Bush's requests were ambiguous), Rice repeated the claim about Bush's supposed request in her April 8 testimony before the 9-11 Commission: "The fact is that this August 6th PDB was in response to the president's questions about whether or not something might happen or something might be planned by Al Qaeda inside the United States."
Neither The Washington Post nor any other U.S. news outlet mentioned this apparent falsehood in its recent coverage of Rice, according to an MMFA search.
"Our plan called for military options to attack Al Qaeda"
In a March 22, 2004, op-ed in The Washington Post, Rice suggested that the Bush administration was developing plans to invade Afghanistan even before September 11, 2001. But Chapter 6 of the 9-11 Commission report notes that far from an invasion, the pre-9-11 plan "called for a multiyear effort involving diplomacy, covert action, economic measures, law enforcement, public diplomacy, and if necessary military efforts." Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage revealed in testimony before the 9-11 Commission that the immediate military component was in fact added to the administration's plan only after the September 11 attacks.
From Rice's March 22 op-ed:
Through the spring and summer of 2001, the national security team developed a strategy to eliminate al Qaeda -- which was expected to take years. ... Our plan called for military options to attack al Qaeda and Taliban leadership, ground forces and other targets -- taking the fight to the enemy where he lived.
From Armitage's March 24 testimony before the 9-11 Commission; Armitage is responding to a question from commissioner Jamie Gorelick:
GORELICK: So I would ask you whether it is true that -- whether it is true, as Dr. Rice said in The Washington Post, "Our plan called for military options to attack Al Qaeda and Taliban leadership, ground forces, and other targets, taking the fight to the enemy where he lived." Was that part of the plan as -- prior to 9-11?
ARMITAGE: No, I think that was amended after the horror of 9-11.
No U.S. news outlet mentioned this apparent falsehood in its recent coverage of Rice, according to an MMFA search.
"Richard Clarke had plenty of opportunities"
On March 22, 2004, Rice tried to answer former National Security Council counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke's claim that the Bush administration did not treat terrorism as a serious threat before the September 11, 2002, attacks. She told CNN: "Richard Clarke had plenty of opportunities to tell us in the administration that he thought the war on terrorism was moving in the wrong direction and he chose not to." In fact, Clarke sent Rice a memo on January 25, 2001, in which he wrote: "We urgently need . . . a Principals level review on the al Qida [sic] network." According to the 9-11 Commission report:
The national security advisor did not respond directly to Clarke's memorandum. No Principals Committee meeting on al Qaeda was held until September 4, 2001 (although the Principals Committee met frequently on other subjects, such as the Middle East peace process, Russia, and the Persian Gulf).
(See below for news coverage of Clarke's revelations about Rice.)
"No al Qaeda plan was turned over to the new administration"
Rice also wrote in her March 22 Post op-ed that "No al Qaeda plan was turned over [by the Clinton administration] to the new administration." But according to the 9-11 Commission report, when Clarke sent Rice his aforementioned 2001 memo, he also sent her the so-called "Delenda Plan" -- which he had developed in 1998 -- along with an updated "strategy paper" entitled "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of al Qida [sic]: Status and Prospects."
Ahead of Bush's official nomination of Rice as secretary of state, The Washington Post assessed her tenure at the National Security Council. The article devoted significant space to recalling Clarke's and the 9-11 Commission's criticisms of Rice but did not highlight Rice's pattern of factually dubious statements regarding Clarke. Other news outlets (including The Boston Globe; the Baltimore Sun; and Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service) noted Clarke's allegations that Rice failed to heed his warnings about terrorism, but none specifically mentioned her apparently false statements.
unfortunately this is what talking to mainstream america about this is like
1. Put your head in a bucket of water three times
2. Take it out twice......
0 Replies
Larry434
1
Reply
Sat 20 Nov, 2004 12:20 pm
Clinton was impeached on charges or perjury and obstruction of justice.
All Rice did was repeat what the intelligence agencies had told her.
When do you imagine Rice commited perjury or obstructed justice?
0 Replies
Harper
1
Reply
Sat 20 Nov, 2004 12:26 pm
Ha ha ha, when Clinton lies nobody died and Clinton was exonerated BTW. Rice lied about the Aug 6 PDB saying it was a historical document. Remember when Rice testified the contents of the PDB had not been released.
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Published on Thursday, April 8, 2004 by the Center for American Progress
Claim vs. Fact: Rice's Q&A Testimony Before the 9/11 Commission
Planes as Weapons
CLAIM: "I do not remember any reports to us, a kind of strategic warning, that planes might be used as weapons." [responding to Kean]
FACT: Condoleezza Rice was the top National Security official with President Bush at the July 2001 G-8 summit in Genoa. There, "U.S. officials were warned that Islamic terrorists might attempt to crash an airliner" into the summit, prompting officials to "close the airspace over Genoa and station antiaircraft guns at the city's airport." [Sources: Los Angeles Times, 9/27/01; White House release, 7/22/01]
CLAIM: "I was certainly not aware of [intelligence reports about planes as missiles] at the time that I spoke" in 2002. [responding to Kean]
FACT: While Rice may not have been aware of the 12 separate and explicit warnings about terrorists using planes as weapons when she made her denial in 2002, she did know about them when she wrote her March 22, 2004 Washington Post op-ed. In that piece, she once again repeated the claim there was no indication "that terrorists were preparing to attack the homeland using airplanes as missiles." [Source: Washington Post, 3/22/04]
US National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice listens to a question during testimony before the 9/11 commission in the Hart Senate office building in Washington April 8, 2004. REUTERS/Larry Downing
August 6 PDB
CLAIM: There was "nothing about the threat of attack in the U.S." in the Presidential Daily Briefing the President received on August 6th. [responding to Ben Veniste]
FACT: Rice herself confirmed that "the title [of the PDB] was, 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.'" [Source: Condoleezza Rice, 4/8/04]
Domestic Threat
CLAIM: "One of the problems was there was really nothing that look like was going to happen inside the United States...Almost all of the reports focused on al-Qaida activities outside the United States, especially in the Middle East and North Africa...We did not have...threat information that was in any way specific enough to suggest something was coming in the United States." [responding to Gorelick]
FACT: Page 204 of the Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11 noted that "In May 2001, the intelligence community obtained a report that Bin Laden supporters were planning to infiltrate the United States" to "carry out a terrorist operation using high explosives." The report "was included in an intelligence report for senior government officials in August [2001]." In the same month, the Pentagon "acquired and shared with other elements of the Intelligence Community information suggesting that seven persons associated with Bin Laden had departed various locations for Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States." [Sources: Joint Congressional Report, 12/02]
CLAIM: "If we had known an attack was coming against the United States...we would have moved heaven and earth to stop it." [responding to Roemer]
FACT: Rice admits that she was told that "an attack was coming." She said, "Let me read you some of the actual chatter that was picked up in that spring and summer: Unbelievable news coming in weeks, said one. Big event -- there will be a very, very, very, very big uproar. There will be attacks in the near future." [Source: Condoleezza Rice, 4/8/04]
Cheney Counterterrorism Task Force
CLAIM: "The Vice President was, a little later in, I think, in May, tasked by the President to put together a group to look at all of the recommendations that had been made about domestic preparedness and all of the questions associated with that." [responding to Fielding]
FACT: The Vice President's task force never once convened a meeting. In the same time period, the Vice President convened at least 10 meetings of his energy task force, and six meetings with Enron executives. [Source: Washington Post, 1/20/02; GAO Report, 8/03]
Principals Meetings
CLAIM: "The CSG (Counterterrorism Security Group) was made up of not junior people, but the top level of counterterrorism experts. Now, they were in contact with their principals." [responding to Fielding]
FACT: "Many of the other people at the CSG-level, and the people who were brought to the table from the domestic agencies, were not telling their principals. Secretary Mineta, the secretary of transportation, had no idea of the threat. The administrator of the FAA, responsible for security on our airlines, had no idea." [Source: 9/11 Commissioner Jamie Gorelick, 4/8/04]
Previous Administration
CLAIM: "The decision that we made was to, first of all, have no drop-off in what the Clinton administration was doing, because clearly they had done a lot of work to deal with this very important priority." [responding to Kean]
FACT: Internal government documents show that while the Clinton Administration officially prioritized counterterrorism as a "Tier One" priority, but when the Bush Administration took office, top officials downgraded counterterrorism. As the Washington Post reported, these documents show that before Sept. 11 the Bush Administration "did not give terrorism top billing." Rice admitted that "we decided to take a different track" than the Clinton Administration in protecting America. [Source: Internal government documents, 1998-2001; Washington Post, 3/22/04; Rice testimony, 4/8/04]
FBI
CLAIM: The Bush Administration has been committed to the "transformation of the FBI into an agency dedicated to fighting terror." [responding to Kean]
FACT: Before 9/11, Attorney General John Ashcroft de-emphasized counterterrorism at the FBI, in favor of more traditional law enforcement. And according to the Washington Post, "in the early days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush White House cut by nearly two-thirds an emergency request for counterterrorism funds by the FBI, an internal administration budget document shows." And according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service, "numerous confidential law enforcement and intelligence sources who challenge the FBI's claim that it has successfully retooled itself to gather critical intelligence on terrorists as well as fight crime." [Source: Washington Post, 3/22/04; Congressional Quarterly, 4/6/04]
CLAIM: "The FBI issued at least three nationwide warnings to federal, state and law enforcement agencies and specifically stated that, although the vast majority of the information indicated overseas targets, attacks against the homeland could not be ruled out. The FBI tasked all 56 of its U.S. field offices to increase surveillance of known suspects of terrorists and to reach out to known informants who might have information on terrorist activities." [responding to Gorelick]
FACT: The warnings are "feckless. They don't tell anybody anything. They don't bring anyone to battle stations." [Source: 9/11 Commissioner Jamie Gorelick, 4/8/04]
Homeland Security
CLAIM: "I think that having a Homeland Security Department that can bring together the FAA and the INS and Customs and all of the various agencies is a very important step." [responding to Hamilton]
FACT: The White House vehemently opposed the creation of the Department of Homeland security. Its opposition to the concept delayed the creation of the department by months.
CLAIM: "We have created a threat terrorism information center, the TTIC, which does bring together all of the sources of information from all of the intelligence agencies -- the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and the INS and the CIA and the DIA -- so that there's one place where all of this is coming together." [responding to Fielding]
FACT: "Knowledgeable sources complain that the president's new Terrorist Threat Integration Center, which reports to CIA Director George Tenet rather than to Ridge, has created more of a moat than a bridge. The ability to spot the nation's weakest points was going to make Homeland Security different, recalled one person involved in the decision to set up TTIC. But now, the person said, 'that whole effort has been gutted by the White House creation of TTIC, [which] has served little more than to give the appearance of progress.'" [Source: National Journal, 3/6/04]
IRAQ-9/11
CLAIM: "There was a discussion of Iraq. I think it was raised by Don Rumsfeld. It was pressed a bit by Paul Wolfowitz."
FACT: Rice's statement confirms previous proof that the Administration was focusing on Iraq immediately after 9/11, despite having no proof that Iraq was involved in the attack. Rice's statement also contradicts her previous denials in which she claimed "Iraq was to the side" immediately after 9/11. She made this denial despite the President signing "a 2-and-a-half-page document marked 'TOP SECRET'" six days after 9/11 that "directed the Pentagon to begin planning military options for an invasion of Iraq." [Source: Condoleezza Rice, 3/22/04, 3/22/04; Washington Post, 1/12/03]
CLAIM: "Given that this was a global war on terror, should we look not just at Afghanistan but should we look at doing something against Iraq?"
FACT: The Administration has not produced one shred of evidence that Iraq had an operational relationship with Al Qaeda, or that Iraq had anything to do with the 9/11 attacks on America. In fact, a U.S. Army War College report said that the war in Iraq has been a diversion that has drained key resources from the more imminent War on Terror. Just this week, USA Today reported that "in 2002, troops from the 5th Special Forces Group who specialize in the Middle East were pulled out of the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to prepare for their next assignment: Iraq." Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) confirmed this, noting in February of 2002, a senior military commander told him "We are moving military and intelligence personnel and resources out of Afghanistan to get ready for a future war in Iraq." [Sources: CNN, 1/13/04; USA Today, 3/28/04; Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL), 3/26/04]
War on Terror
CLAIM: After 9/11, "the President put states on notice if they were sponsoring terrorists."
FACT: The President continues to say Saudi Arabia is "our friend" despite their potential ties to terrorists. As the LA Times reported, "the 27 classified pages of a congressional report about Sept. 11 depict a Saudi government that not only provided significant money and aid to the suicide hijackers but also allowed potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to flow to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups through suspect charities and other fronts." Just this week, Newsweek reported "within weeks of the September 11 terror attacks, security officers at the Fleet National Bank in Boston had identified 'suspicious' wire transfers from the Saudi Embassy in Washington that eventually led to the discovery of an active Al Qaeda 'sleeper cell' that may have been planning follow-up attacks inside the United States." [Source: LA Times, 8/2/03; CNN, 11/23/02; Newsweek, 4/7/04]
0 Replies
Larry434
1
Reply
Sat 20 Nov, 2004 12:35 pm
Which of those statements by Rice constitute perjury or obstruction of justice, harper?
0 Replies
Harper
1
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Sat 20 Nov, 2004 12:39 pm
1) All of them 2) None of them
Where did I accuse Rice of obstruction? Howcould Rice be gulty of obstruction when she hasn't yet been charged with anything? Any more stupid questions?
0 Replies
Larry434
1
Reply
Sat 20 Nov, 2004 12:45 pm
Harper wrote:
1) All of them 2) None of them
Where did I accuse Rice of obstruction? Howcould Rice be gulty of obstruction when she hasn't yet been charged with anything? Any more stupid questions?
There are no stupid questions, just stupid answers as you so ably just demonstrated.
perjury
n. the crime of intentionally lying after being duly sworn (to tell the truth) by a notary public, court clerk or other official. This false statement may be made in testimony in court, administrative hearings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, as well as by signing or acknowledging a written legal document (such as affidavit, declaration under penalty of perjury, deed, license application, tax return) known to contain false information. Although it is a crime, prosecutions for perjury are rare, because a defendant will argue he/she merely made a mistake or misunderstood.
I repeat, in which of your examples did Rice commit perjury?
0 Replies
Harper
1
Reply
Sat 20 Nov, 2004 12:49 pm
Asked and answered.
0 Replies
dare2think
1
Reply
Sat 20 Nov, 2004 01:02 pm
Harper wrote:
1) All of them 2) None of them
Where did I accuse Rice of obstruction? Howcould Rice be gulty of obstruction when she hasn't yet been charged with anything? Any more stupid questions?
Harper, its like trying to reason with an egg, with this guy...hahahahahahaha
0 Replies
Lash
1
Reply
Sat 20 Nov, 2004 01:06 pm
Lying under oath is very clearly an attempted obstruction of justice.
What statement of Rice's constitutes perjury?
0 Replies
Harper
1
Reply
Sat 20 Nov, 2004 01:09 pm
Lash wrote:
Lying under oath is very clearly an attempted obstruction of justice.
What statement of Rice's constitutes perjury?
1) No it is not. 2) I have already answered that. Anyone who keeps asking is only making her or himself look either obstinate or stupid.
0 Replies
Lash
1
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Sat 20 Nov, 2004 01:11 pm
No, but they ARE making someone look quite obstinate and stupid.
I suppose the shoe could be placed on the other foot, could the questions actually be answered, rather than dodged.
0 Replies
dare2think
1
Reply
Sat 20 Nov, 2004 01:12 pm
By the way, Clinton was impeached for lying about a "personal affair", something the public did not have to know.
There was NO obstruction of justice found, and the pergury was just a fancy way of saying he lied about his "personal affair", the impeachment was partisan and unconstitutional.
Rice and bush lied about something that has gotten tens of thousands killed, and still counting.
0 Replies
Harper
1
Reply
Sat 20 Nov, 2004 01:16 pm
Normally I don't feed trolls but the obstinance is becomig overwhelming:
Published on Thursday, April 8, 2004 by the Center for American Progress
Claim vs. Fact: Rice's Q&A Testimony Before the 9/11 Commission
Planes as Weapons
CLAIM: "I do not remember any reports to us, a kind of strategic warning, that planes might be used as weapons." [responding to Kean]
FACT: Condoleezza Rice was the top National Security official with President Bush at the July 2001 G-8 summit in Genoa. There, "U.S. officials were warned that Islamic terrorists might attempt to crash an airliner" into the summit, prompting officials to "close the airspace over Genoa and station antiaircraft guns at the city's airport." [Sources: Los Angeles Times, 9/27/01; White House release, 7/22/01]
CLAIM: "I was certainly not aware of [intelligence reports about planes as missiles] at the time that I spoke" in 2002. [responding to Kean]
FACT: While Rice may not have been aware of the 12 separate and explicit warnings about terrorists using planes as weapons when she made her denial in 2002, she did know about them when she wrote her March 22, 2004 Washington Post op-ed. In that piece, she once again repeated the claim there was no indication "that terrorists were preparing to attack the homeland using airplanes as missiles." [Source: Washington Post, 3/22/04]
US National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice listens to a question during testimony before the 9/11 commission in the Hart Senate office building in Washington April 8, 2004. REUTERS/Larry Downing
August 6 PDB
CLAIM: There was "nothing about the threat of attack in the U.S." in the Presidential Daily Briefing the President received on August 6th. [responding to Ben Veniste]
FACT: Rice herself confirmed that "the title [of the PDB] was, 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.'" [Source: Condoleezza Rice, 4/8/04]
Domestic Threat
CLAIM: "One of the problems was there was really nothing that look like was going to happen inside the United States...Almost all of the reports focused on al-Qaida activities outside the United States, especially in the Middle East and North Africa...We did not have...threat information that was in any way specific enough to suggest something was coming in the United States." [responding to Gorelick]
FACT: Page 204 of the Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11 noted that "In May 2001, the intelligence community obtained a report that Bin Laden supporters were planning to infiltrate the United States" to "carry out a terrorist operation using high explosives." The report "was included in an intelligence report for senior government officials in August [2001]." In the same month, the Pentagon "acquired and shared with other elements of the Intelligence Community information suggesting that seven persons associated with Bin Laden had departed various locations for Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States." [Sources: Joint Congressional Report, 12/02]
CLAIM: "If we had known an attack was coming against the United States...we would have moved heaven and earth to stop it." [responding to Roemer]
FACT: Rice admits that she was told that "an attack was coming." She said, "Let me read you some of the actual chatter that was picked up in that spring and summer: Unbelievable news coming in weeks, said one. Big event -- there will be a very, very, very, very big uproar. There will be attacks in the near future." [Source: Condoleezza Rice, 4/8/04]
Cheney Counterterrorism Task Force
CLAIM: "The Vice President was, a little later in, I think, in May, tasked by the President to put together a group to look at all of the recommendations that had been made about domestic preparedness and all of the questions associated with that." [responding to Fielding]
FACT: The Vice President's task force never once convened a meeting. In the same time period, the Vice President convened at least 10 meetings of his energy task force, and six meetings with Enron executives. [Source: Washington Post, 1/20/02; GAO Report, 8/03]
Principals Meetings
CLAIM: "The CSG (Counterterrorism Security Group) was made up of not junior people, but the top level of counterterrorism experts. Now, they were in contact with their principals." [responding to Fielding]
FACT: "Many of the other people at the CSG-level, and the people who were brought to the table from the domestic agencies, were not telling their principals. Secretary Mineta, the secretary of transportation, had no idea of the threat. The administrator of the FAA, responsible for security on our airlines, had no idea." [Source: 9/11 Commissioner Jamie Gorelick, 4/8/04]
Previous Administration
CLAIM: "The decision that we made was to, first of all, have no drop-off in what the Clinton administration was doing, because clearly they had done a lot of work to deal with this very important priority." [responding to Kean]
FACT: Internal government documents show that while the Clinton Administration officially prioritized counterterrorism as a "Tier One" priority, but when the Bush Administration took office, top officials downgraded counterterrorism. As the Washington Post reported, these documents show that before Sept. 11 the Bush Administration "did not give terrorism top billing." Rice admitted that "we decided to take a different track" than the Clinton Administration in protecting America. [Source: Internal government documents, 1998-2001; Washington Post, 3/22/04; Rice testimony, 4/8/04]
FBI
CLAIM: The Bush Administration has been committed to the "transformation of the FBI into an agency dedicated to fighting terror." [responding to Kean]
FACT: Before 9/11, Attorney General John Ashcroft de-emphasized counterterrorism at the FBI, in favor of more traditional law enforcement. And according to the Washington Post, "in the early days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush White House cut by nearly two-thirds an emergency request for counterterrorism funds by the FBI, an internal administration budget document shows." And according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service, "numerous confidential law enforcement and intelligence sources who challenge the FBI's claim that it has successfully retooled itself to gather critical intelligence on terrorists as well as fight crime." [Source: Washington Post, 3/22/04; Congressional Quarterly, 4/6/04]
CLAIM: "The FBI issued at least three nationwide warnings to federal, state and law enforcement agencies and specifically stated that, although the vast majority of the information indicated overseas targets, attacks against the homeland could not be ruled out. The FBI tasked all 56 of its U.S. field offices to increase surveillance of known suspects of terrorists and to reach out to known informants who might have information on terrorist activities." [responding to Gorelick]
FACT: The warnings are "feckless. They don't tell anybody anything. They don't bring anyone to battle stations." [Source: 9/11 Commissioner Jamie Gorelick, 4/8/04]
Homeland Security
CLAIM: "I think that having a Homeland Security Department that can bring together the FAA and the INS and Customs and all of the various agencies is a very important step." [responding to Hamilton]
FACT: The White House vehemently opposed the creation of the Department of Homeland security. Its opposition to the concept delayed the creation of the department by months.
CLAIM: "We have created a threat terrorism information center, the TTIC, which does bring together all of the sources of information from all of the intelligence agencies -- the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and the INS and the CIA and the DIA -- so that there's one place where all of this is coming together." [responding to Fielding]
FACT: "Knowledgeable sources complain that the president's new Terrorist Threat Integration Center, which reports to CIA Director George Tenet rather than to Ridge, has created more of a moat than a bridge. The ability to spot the nation's weakest points was going to make Homeland Security different, recalled one person involved in the decision to set up TTIC. But now, the person said, 'that whole effort has been gutted by the White House creation of TTIC, [which] has served little more than to give the appearance of progress.'" [Source: National Journal, 3/6/04]
IRAQ-9/11
CLAIM: "There was a discussion of Iraq. I think it was raised by Don Rumsfeld. It was pressed a bit by Paul Wolfowitz."
FACT: Rice's statement confirms previous proof that the Administration was focusing on Iraq immediately after 9/11, despite having no proof that Iraq was involved in the attack. Rice's statement also contradicts her previous denials in which she claimed "Iraq was to the side" immediately after 9/11. She made this denial despite the President signing "a 2-and-a-half-page document marked 'TOP SECRET'" six days after 9/11 that "directed the Pentagon to begin planning military options for an invasion of Iraq." [Source: Condoleezza Rice, 3/22/04, 3/22/04; Washington Post, 1/12/03]
CLAIM: "Given that this was a global war on terror, should we look not just at Afghanistan but should we look at doing something against Iraq?"
FACT: The Administration has not produced one shred of evidence that Iraq had an operational relationship with Al Qaeda, or that Iraq had anything to do with the 9/11 attacks on America. In fact, a U.S. Army War College report said that the war in Iraq has been a diversion that has drained key resources from the more imminent War on Terror. Just this week, USA Today reported that "in 2002, troops from the 5th Special Forces Group who specialize in the Middle East were pulled out of the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to prepare for their next assignment: Iraq." Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) confirmed this, noting in February of 2002, a senior military commander told him "We are moving military and intelligence personnel and resources out of Afghanistan to get ready for a future war in Iraq." [Sources: CNN, 1/13/04; USA Today, 3/28/04; Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL), 3/26/04]
War on Terror
CLAIM: After 9/11, "the President put states on notice if they were sponsoring terrorists."
FACT: The President continues to say Saudi Arabia is "our friend" despite their potential ties to terrorists. As the LA Times reported, "the 27 classified pages of a congressional report about Sept. 11 depict a Saudi government that not only provided significant money and aid to the suicide hijackers but also allowed potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to flow to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups through suspect charities and other fronts." Just this week, Newsweek reported "within weeks of the September 11 terror attacks, security officers at the Fleet National Bank in Boston had identified 'suspicious' wire transfers from the Saudi Embassy in Washington that eventually led to the discovery of an active Al Qaeda 'sleeper cell' that may have been planning follow-up attacks inside the United States." [Source: LA Times, 8/2/03; CNN, 11/23/02; Newsweek, 4/7/04]
_________________
0 Replies
Larry434
1
Reply
Sat 20 Nov, 2004 01:17 pm
Lash wrote:
Lying under oath is very clearly an attempted obstruction of justice.
What statement of Rice's constitutes perjury?
None. Rice never testified under oath, or did she?
Harper and d2k, like Clinton still is, are in deep denial.
0 Replies
Harper
1
Reply
Sat 20 Nov, 2004 01:21 pm
BTW Lash, please explain how Rice's lies to Congress could possibly be construed as Obstruction of Justice?
0 Replies
Harper
1
Reply
Sat 20 Nov, 2004 01:21 pm
Larry434 wrote:
Lash wrote:
Lying under oath is very clearly an attempted obstruction of justice.
What statement of Rice's constitutes perjury?
None. Rice never testified under oath, or did she?
Harper and d2k, like Clinton still is, are in deep denial.
Wow!
0 Replies
Larry434
1
Reply
Sat 20 Nov, 2004 01:23 pm
wow what, harper.
When did Rice testify under oath?
0 Replies
Harper
1
Reply
Sat 20 Nov, 2004 01:31 pm
So now you are saying that she lied to the 911 comission but she wasn't sworn in?
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blueveinedthrobber
1
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Sat 20 Nov, 2004 01:32 pm
Harper wrote:
Ha ha ha, when Clinton lies nobody died and Clinton was exonerated BTW. Rice lied about the Aug 6 PDB saying it was a historical document. Remember when Rice testified the contents of the PDB had not been released.]
Why Harper I'm shocked...according to the republicans AND the Christian right, billions and billions of human lives were murdered when Clinton released his sperm into the jew whores throat.........get right with God soon, will ya?