by Deb Cupples | God, I'll miss Rep. Henry Waxman when he leaves the House Oversight Committee next
month. He digs up information -- better than most members of Congress and even our FBI, it seems-- and he doggedly ensures that we taxpayers hear about it.
As a good-bye gift, Rep. Waxman gives us an 11-page memo, outlining evidence that former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may have lied to Congress when arguing that our nation should invade Iraq partly on the grounds that Iraq was (allegedly) enriching uranium.
Here's an excerpt from that memo:
and Commerce. Before I depart, I want to report to you on the most significant information I have learned from the Committee's investigation into the basis for President Bush's claim in his 2003 State of the Union address that 'the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.'
"On January 6, 2004, White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales sent a letter on behalf of
Condoleezza Rice, who was then the National Security Advisor, to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, writing that 'Dr. Rice has asked me to respond' to questions raised by the Committee about the uranium claim. Mr. Gonzales informed the Committee that the CIA 'orally cleared' the uranium claim 'for use by the President' in both a September 12,2002, speech to the United Nations and a September 26,2002, speech in the White House Rose Garden.
"The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence relied on these representations and adopted
the White House's statements almost verbatim in its 2004 Report on the U.S. Intelligence
Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq.
"As a result, the Senate report created the impression that the President's use of the uranium claim in the State of the Union address could be blamed in large part on the CIA and its clearance of the claim in the earlier speeches.
"The information the Oversight Committee has received casts serious doubt on the veracity of the representations that Mr. Gonzales made on behalf of Dr. Rice. Contrary to Mr. Gonzales's assertions, the Committee has received evidence that the CIA objected to the uranium claim in both speeches, resulting in its deletion from the President's remarks. In the case of the September 26, 2002, speech, the former Deputy Director of Intelligence at the CIA told the Committee that she personally warned Dr. Rice not to use the uranium claim.
On this page, you'll find a link to the whole memo, which is in pdf form.
It has been obvious for some years now that the Bush Administration was simply dead-set on going to war in Iraq -- enough so to fudge intelligence, mislead the public, and spin facts to the point that they looked like cotton candy.
Wouldn't it be nice if someone in the know would tell us why?
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