Leaker-in-Chief "Declassified" intel?
 

Bush says he declassified intelligence

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
President George W. Bush acknowledged on Monday he ordered the declassification of parts of a prewar intelligence report on Iraq to respond to critics who alleged he manipulated intelligence to justify the war.

Bush offered his first comment on a prosecutor's disclosure last week that he authorized Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, to declassify Iraq intelligence.

The disclosure prompted a firestorm of criticism from Democrats who charged Bush was a hypocrite who denounces leaks of information while becoming the "leaker-in-chief." A Republican ally, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), urged Bush on Sunday to "tell the American people exactly what happened."

At issue is the administration's release in July 2003 of parts of an October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate that alleged Iraq under
Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and was trying to develop a nuclear weapon.

Bush said he declassified parts of the document to answer questions raised about why the United States invaded Iraq.

"I wanted people to see what some of those statements were based on. I wanted people to see the truth. I thought it made sense for people to see the truth. That's why I declassified the document," he said.

Bush, answering questions from an audience after a speech in Washington, would not comment on the allegation that he authorized Libby to release the information to reporters.

But a senior administration official said Bush did not designate Libby or anyone else to release the information, trying to distance Bush from any tactical decisions made on how to release the information.

The White House release of the parts of the National Intelligence Estimate came in response to charges from former ambassador Joe Wilson that Bush had manipulated intelligence to justify the war.

Wilson later accused the White House of leaking the identity of his wife, who was then a CIA officer, Valerie Plame, to retaliate against him.

Libby is accused of obstruction of justice and perjury in an investigation designed to discover who leaked Plame's name.

White House officials have stressed that Bush was well within his legal authority to declassify the document.

The new controversy erupted as Bush seeks to rebound from weak poll numbers and tries to bolster sagging American support for the Iraq war.

Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on "Fox News Sunday" that Bush owed "a specific explanation to the American people" of what happened.

"The president has the authority to declassify information. So in a technical sense, if he looked at it, he could say this is declassified, and make a disclosure of it," he said.

Wilson, speaking on ABC's "This Week," called on Bush to release transcripts of his and Cheney's testimony to the prosecutor.

"It seems to me it is long past time for the White House to come clean on all of this," he said.


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Ok, I just have to say this: TAKE OFF YOU HOSER!

So... I'm confused. If Bush ordered the leak of this intelligence, which turned out to be false, doesn't that prove the he intentionally mislead the country?

BINGO! you've just won an all expense paid trip to the head of the class!:laugh:

Well, not really, or at least that has not been proven by anything in this instance other than innuendo. In other words, the declassification of the stuff in the National Intelligence Estimate does not automatically equate to leaking Plame's name, which is the sole legal issue in this matter.

I get that W is an a$$, but from the facts I have seen, no direct link to any leak of Plames's name by W, Rove, or Cheney has been established, though I think in the end, the link will be established.

Finally, all this is fine and dandy, but I again suibmit most Americans do not car because they would just as soon see all Muslims dead.

Wait: I think you're missing his point. The original Intel that Monkey Boy leaked was as justification for the Iraq war. Which was later shown by the Downing Street memo and the UN Weapons inspectors to be FALSE. Thus, Monkey Boy WAS pulling a fast one on the American people to wit:

The Plamegate issue is related but not directly addressed in this article. As Libby's trial goes on, we may yet learn the truth of just how dirty Monkey Boy and the Organ Grinder really are.

There is no question W knowingly lied about the Niger stuff to bolster the reasons for invading Iraq. I am talking only about the leaking of Plame's name.

This article doesnt directly address that issue. I happen to think Bush/Cheney are behind that too.....however, I hope that comes out as a result of Libby's trial. then those jerkwads will twist in the wind (I hope....tho they have avoided punishment for their crimes thus far):shrug:

Well, they sort of go hand in hand - at least to me.

Yes they are related, but the point of THIS article was the fact that in the beginning, Bush was ranting about LEAKS and the truth is, HE APPROVED this leak, thus becoming the Leaker-in-Chief.

The extent of his culpability is yet to be shown. I happen to think his hands couldnt get any dirtier, and that he is behind Plamegate as well. That has yet to be proven.

for right now, the fact that Bush is a proven hypocrite is juicy for me.:nod:

Interestingly, no direct evidence points directly to W leaking anything. Here merely declassified the intelligence :shrug: It will be interesting if the direct link can be made, which I think will happen, esp. since W played dumb abd called for heads to roll when it all actually happened.

or maybe he wasnt "playing" dumb? :shrug:


I noted in the article that White House officials are careful to avoid saying Bush directed Libby to leak Plame's name. But didnt Libby say that Cheney told him to talk about that? And if the ultimate order didnt come from Monkey Boy then who is REALLY running this country? :eek:

I know this wasn't about Plame (at least not yet)... it was evidence supporting the war that was leaked to counter Plame's husband. I guess what I'm saying is did Bush know this evidence was wrong when he started leaking it to the media?

As I understand it, according to the Downing Street Memo, he did. but he didnt care. He had an agenda and no lies were too big to delude the American people with. In spite of no hard evidence by the UN inspectors.

Well, it is a little muddier than that - at least from a legal point of view. From what I understand, the Pres. can declassify anything he wants, which he did here. So, that is not an illegal activity - at least as I understand it. I do think it was crummy of him to do so apparently solely in an effort to discredit Wilson, but I am unsure this evidence, which I think negated W's position, achieved that goal. I need to look into this more.

That is a little misleading. The UN thought SH had WMD up until the time we invaded. I agree W should have let the inspections continue though. Actually, my position is exactly the same as Bill Clinton's, which is W was correct to press SH's feet to the fire through the inspections, but W jumped the gun with the invasion prior to the completion of the inspections.