Top CIA Agent Reveals Bush Misuse of Intelligence
by RonChusidCBS News announces that they will be interviewing Tyler Drumheller, the former highest ranking CIA agent in Euope on Sixty Minutes Sunday. CBS reports that this “official who had a top role during the run-up to the Iraqi war charges the White House with ignoring intelligence that said there were no weapons of mass destruction or an active nuclear program in Iraq.” Also from the report:
Drumheller says the administration routinely relied on single sources — when those single sources confirmed what the White House wanted to hear.
“They certainly took information that came from single sources on the yellowcake story and on several other stories with no corroboration at all,” he says. The “yellowcake story” refers to a report the CIA received in late 2001 alleging that Iraq had purchased 500 tons of uranium from Africa, presumably to build a nuclear bomb.
Many in the CIA doubted the uranium report from the beginning, and continued to doubt it, even as White House speechwriters tried to include the report in the president’s speeches.
In a major speech the president was scheduled to give in Cincinnati, the leadership of the CIA intervened directly to remove the uranium report from the speech. But that didn’t stop it from making it into the president’s State of the Union address a short time later.
“As a British report,” says Drumheller. A senior CIA official signed off on the speech only because the uranium reference was attributed to the British.“It just sticks in my craw every time I hear them say it’s an intelligence failure. … This was a policy failure. … I think, over time, people will look back on this and see this is going to be one of the great, I think, policy mistakes of all time,” Drumheller tells Bradley.
No doubt the right wing Bush Worshippers will be out Swift Boating Drumheller any time now.
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Just love it when another one joins the chorus.
By the time this is over, they are going to rival the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Why does he hate America and love Saddam?
Oh I see, he was with the CIA. Everyone knows they’re a bunch of commies who just want to destroy our fearless leader! They’re almost as un-American as the State Department!
Sounds like 60 Minutes will be must see TV on Sunday. Thanks for the heads up Ron.
I know this is beginning to sound cliche but where were these people in 03 and 04 when these sadists could have been kicked out.
They should have spoke up when it could have possibly made a difference.
pen,
I wonder about this a lot. What kinds of conflicts they were unable to resolve in order to speak up then. I think there was some level of disbelief/denial hard to wake up from. And fear. And remorse. All of which leads to a sort of mental paralysis.
The other thing is the number (literally hundreds and probably close to, if not over 1000) of people who WERE speaking up. Scientists, Nobel Laureates, Economists, Historians, CONSERVATIVES, Republicans, State Department, Intelligence and Military officials – totally unprecedented. And very clear statements about what W had done wrong, what could happen if he were re-elected and DO NOT RE-ELECT THIS GUY as blatantly as could be said.
Remember the Philadelphia Inquirer’s 21 DAYS of editorials on why he should not be re-elected? The number of newspaper editorials that endorsed Kerry, many switching from having endorsed W in 2000, was way over W’s in both papers and circulation. AND, in all the time that Editor & Publisher had been tallying it – starting in the ’40s- only 2 other Democrats had gotten more editorial endorsements than the Republican candidates. Clinton in ‘92 and ?? can’t remember now. (Did we ever have a liberal media bias?)
People just were not listening. It was like they were having auditory jamming waves sent at them…
“Why does he hate America and love Saddam?” LOL
I’m sorry for laughing, but that’s exactly the mind-set that prevailed in 2002/2003.
How long, how thoroughly, and over how many branches of government, not to mention the public, the cloak of fear hung (huge cloak, fear of our own security, fear of being accused of treason, etc.), will be something that is studied in years to come.
If we have years to come.
I remember those months of “lead-up” to the war in Iraq well. I remember initially reading (on-line, of course) about the Plame outing. I remember yelling to my husband in the other room, “OMG, you’re not going to believe this.” I remember sitting on the floor, shaking my head, saying things like, “My god, they’re going to get away with this.” I remember yelling at Colin Powell when he was talking at the UN. I remember listening to the French president, and saying, “God, I wish he spoke for my country.” I remember so much, I’ve forgotten most of it.
(And this, after the Impeachment Fiasco, Selection 2000, 9/11, not to mention the first Gulf War.)
But mostly I remember my husband telling me that eventually the American people WOULD wake up.
There’s been an enormous amount of water under the bridge since then. Lives lost, destroyed beyond repair. Countries and cultures ripped from their roots and moorings.
And even though we are living in this time, without the hindsight of history, it is beyond obvious that this time is pivotal.
What was my point? I forget. LOL
I think my point was, I really truly thought this country was filled smart, brave people chock-full of common sense. To see such a morally bankrupt man as George Bush sold the way he’s been sold, well, I think we’ve witnessed one of the biggest con jobs in history.
Or, as I said in one of my more sarcastic moments: “Hey! We’ve almost lost as many troops in Iraq as were lost on 9/11! Maybe Bush will call it even now!”
ps. The above “conversations with myself volume 100″ was for Ginny. @;-)
Oh for crying out loud, check out WaPo:
CIA Officer Is Fired for Media Leaks
The Post Was Among Outlets That Gained Classified Data ~~By Dafna Linzer
I’m cherry-picking quotes:
“The CIA’s statement did not name the reporters it believes were involved, but several intelligence officials said The Post’s Dana Priest was among them. This week, Priest won the Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting for articles about the agency, INCLUDING ONE THAT REVEALED THE EXISTENCE OF SECRET, CIA-RUN PRISONS IN EASTERN EUROPE AND ELSEWHERE.”
~~~
“The Justice Department is conducting several leak inquiries, including one into reports last December in the New York Times about a SECRET DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM by the National Security Agency. Officials said it is possible the department could file criminal charges in connection with that investigation and others, but it is unclear whether the department is also investigating the disclosures about CIA-run prisons.”
~~~
Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. said PEOPLE WHO PROVIDE CITIZENS THE INFORMATION THEY NEED TO HOLD THEIR GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLE SHOULD NOT “come to harm for that.”
Larry Johnson’s take on the firing of Mary McCarthy at Talking Points Memo Cafe:
http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/29098
[...] US-Regierung unter Präsident George W. Bush, endlich inhaftiert und für ihre Verbrechen zur Verantwortung gezogen? Die USA erweisen sich damit als schlimmster Terrorstaat dieses Jahrhunderts [...]
Am I ever out of touch….
Having been in business world for many years on many large projects, the last thing I ever wanted was one view. I demanded a Devils Advocate on any issue. It was someone’s responsibility to come up with reasons not to do something. We would work thru the issues and come up with a decision based on all information. At a minimum, group think must be avoided at all costs. To rely on one source is amazingly irresponsible at best and criminally insane at worst. It takes time, it takes energy; you check your ego at the door; and you listen to others who know more then you because that is why you hired them in the first place. I prayed I was doing the correct thing and for guidance and wisdom; not to do a specific thing.
The Dumbo model which is to only listen to those who agree with a predetermined position because God said so is the proof that Dumbo may be the most incompetent POTUS we ever had. To think the sheeples voted Dumbo over Kerry still causes me sleepless nights.
KJ,
Thanks, informative as ususal
Battlebob,
Really good point, especially on checking the ego at the door.
Yup, Worst President EVER. and likely to retain that position for as long as the nation survives.
Battlebob, well said. Even medieval kings knew the value of their court jester and/or poet.
Group think is like a chastity belt for the brain.