SwiftVets.com

[kimberly]

Unprecidented, but can someone explain what it might mean?

edit: I have been concerned for a while now to what lengths the LL might go to force the issue of pre-war intelligence and the legitimacy of the war.

"The Libby indictment provides a window into what this is really all about, how this administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq and attempted to destroy those who dared to challenge its actions," Reid said before the doors were closed.
- from Yahoo news

by the way...for anyone who is at work and didn't see this happen 'live', imo, Frist looked like he was gonna have an accident in his pants and quickly called for the more experienced Lott to 'splain. jmo.


Carl Levin (summary): This is part II of the investigation. Bush has been afraid of where it might lead and administration has been dragging its feet for that reason. Committment in writing to complete phase II of this investigation hasn't happened and so closed session was necessary. CNN: Should the administration be held accountable that no wmd's were found?

[kimberly]

ok....anyone think that, as I just heard on cnn, that this is really about grabbing the headlines back from Bush's announcement re: his sc nomination? Or is it possible that it really is more than just a grab for the front page?

[GM Strong]

It's a desperate move by Dingy Harry to create a commotion. What it means is not clear as it would seem he is after something a Senate Committee is already doing.
_________________
8th Army Korea 68-69

[jwb7605]

What bothered me at least as much as WMD issues about Iraq was just the amount of corruption involved, which was affecting world politics -- to the detriment of the world, of course -- as well as the huge amount of human suffering.

The corruption issue is open in another thread:
http://www.swiftvets.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=21078

... and the human suffering issue is about to become center stage, with Saddam's trial forthcoming.

In essence, you could justify the war from a human perspective (scales much larger than Bosnia), AND/OR a corruption issue (at a minimum, on par with North Korea), AND/OR a potential illicit weapons issue. Pick one or more from the list.

I can't figure out why Harry Reid (and/or Howard Dean) would overlook all three of these items in some sort of quest to defend Saddam Hussein and the regime, which is basically what he/they are doing to attack the "current administration" on the issue. It is not necessary to be a defender of Bush's politics to defend the idea of going into Iraq. I think it is necessary to be focused on attacking Bush, though, to go to such lengths to "investigate" and attempt to discredit things. Attacking Bosnia, if I recall properly, had only ONE of the three issues above (oh ... yes ... we're still there, too), and for some reason that was "perfectly justified", and still seems to be.

Apparently, I will never become astute at politics.

[GM Strong]

Reid, Dean, Schmucky Schumer, Boxer, Kennedy, sKerry etal are all blinded by a hatred of W and losing their control. They are beholden to the Ultra left whackos of Moveon.org, People for the UnAmerican Way, and George Soros (effect of McCain-Feingold, did I say McCain, HMM) and other Ultra leftist hate America radicals. Dingy Harry has no cajones and along with the rest, no principles, and have taken over the Democrat Party. Mainstream Dems have lost out big time.
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8th Army Korea 68-69

[wonhyo]

I think they didn't like the report that they had all agreed to, that said Joe Wilson lied,time and again. Now that Libby has been indicted, they want to rethink their positions, and rewrite the reports. Roberts said he had informed the senate that they would restart the next phase, next tues., but the Dems wanted to preempt the report.

[homesteader]

This is nothing more than another Dem stunt attmpting to set into stone another one of their "Created Alternative Realities". And why should they not do it? They think they have succeeded with these "CARs" in the years since they lost power and it appears to be the only strategy they have. Their problem is that at election time, they are the only ones who believe, and they fall farthur behind.

Republican Position: Social Security needs fixing.
Democratic CAR: Tom Delay is a rat.

Republican Position: Tax relief should be made permanent.
Democratic CAR: W is dumb.

Republican Position: Tort reform is necessary
Democratic CAR: Ashcroft is a fanatic.

Reality: All we know about NOLA and Katrina.
CAR: It was all Ws fault.

Reality: Democracy is on the march in Iraq.
CAR: Scooter is a fink.

It is a shame that the Republican leadership often allows these CARs to get legs by responding to them defensively or responding at all. Maybe this latest stunt will prove to be "a bridge too far". With the new SC nominee and what seems to be genuine irritation among Rep. Senators at this latest childishness, maybe we will see some bolder offensive and unapologetic action by those who are supposed to be in the majority.

[USAFE5]

I am listening to the news here locally in Las Vegas. The reporter is so biased I can't believe it. Normally this is a relatively balanced station for news.

The reporter emphasis on the Iraq questions was very over the top. It is the local NBC affiliate.
_________________
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I’m here to help." Ronald Reagan

[Uisguex Jack]

jwb7605 said:

[homesteader]

Jack,

You just illustrated the point. There are hard and fast realities that liberals can not abide. They can not dispute or disprove reality so they have to create alternative realities. This latest issue

Reality: Sen Roberts (R Kansas) is investigating prewar intelligence.
Dem CAR: We are forcing the Republicans to investigate prewar intelligence. The only acceptable finding is that W lied. Nevermind what all the Dems were saying, what all the Europeans were saying, what Saddam himself was saying and doing to act like he had WMDs etc. etc.

[Me#1You#10]

[davman]

Everybody please remember that around election time that a memo discovered that revealed some plans by the Dems. It basicly listed a bunch of steps, which included breaking with the Republicans, and launching one independent investigation after another. They have followed step by step the items that were listed in that memo.

[davman]

Democrat Memo
By Senate Intelligence Committee Democratic Staff
CNSNews.com Information Services
November 06, 2003

(Editor's Note: The following is text of the Democrats' memo on using the Senate Intelligence Committee to attack President Bush before the 2004 elections.)

We have carefully reviewed our options under the rules and believe we have identified the best approach. Our plan is as follows:

1) Pull the majority along as far as we can on issues that may lead to major new disclosures regarding improper or questionable conduct by administration officials. We are having some success in that regard. For example, in addition to the president's State of the Union speech, the chairman has agreed to look at the activities of the Office of the Secretary of Defense as well as Secretary Bolton's office at the State Department. The fact that the chairman supports our investigations into these offices and co-signs our requests for information is helpful and potentially crucial. We don't know what we will find but our prospects for getting the access we seek is far greater when we have the backing of the majority.

(Note: we can verbally mention some of the intriguing leads we are pursuing.)

2) Assiduously prepare Democratic "additional views" to attach to any interim or final reports the committee may release. Committee rules provide this opportunity and we intend to take full advantage of it. In that regard, we have already compiled all the public statements on Iraq made by senior administration officials. We will identify the most exaggerated claims and contrast them with the intelligence estimates that have since been declassified. Our additional views will also, among other things, castigate the majority for seeking to limit the scope of the inquiry. The Democrats will then be in a strong position to reopen the question of establishing an independent commission (i.e. the Corzine amendment).

3) Prepare to launch an independent investigation when it becomes clear we have exhausted the opportunity to usefully collaborate with the majority. We can pull the trigger on an independent investigation at any time-- but we can only do so once. The best time to do so will probably be next year either:

A) After we have already released our additional views on an interim report - thereby providing as many as three opportunities to make our case to the public: 1) additional views on the interim report; 2) announcement of our independent investigation; and 3) additional views on the final investigation; or

B) Once we identify solid leads the majority does not want to pursue. We could attract more coverage and have greater credibility in that context than one in which we simply launch an independent investigation based on principled but vague notions regarding the "use" of intelligence.

In the meantime, even without a specifically authorized independent investigation, we continue to act independently when we encounter foot-dragging on the part of the majority. For example, the FBI Niger investigation was done solely at the request of the vice chairman; we have independently submitted written questions to DoD; and we are preparing further independent requests for information.

Summary

Intelligence issues are clearly secondary to the public's concern regarding the insurgency in Iraq. Yet, we have an important role to play in the revealing the misleading -- if not flagrantly dishonest methods and motives -- of the senior administration officials who made the case for a unilateral, preemptive war. The approach outline above seems to offer the best prospect for exposing the administration's dubious motives and

[kimberly]

dav....have you got a link to this so I can print it?

[kimberly]

given the nature of all that's happened over the last two days......does anyone else find it very, very odd that JOHN KERRY is no where to be seen?