DoD Report Appears to Confirm Downing Street Memo

Billo_Really · 02-09-07, 07:52 PM

Quote:

DoD Report Appears to Confirm Downing Street Memo
By Jason Leopold t r u t h o u t | Report Friday 09 February 2007

A long-awaited report on the veracity of pre-war Iraq intelligence has found that a secretive policy shop exaggerated the Iraqi threat, providing the White House with cherry-picked information about links between Iraq and al Qaeda. The shop, operating out of the Pentagon, was set up by then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Its goal was to lay the groundwork for a pre-emptive military strike against Iraq.

The report would appear to confirm British intelligence assertions that surfaced in a document widely referred to as the Downing Street Memo that the facts against the threat posed by Iraq were being fixed around the Bush administration's policy leading up to the invasion of Iraq.

Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said the report is a "a devastating condemnation of the activities of the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. Those activities supported the Bush administration's misleading case for war against Iraq."

So all that pre-invasion hype was a lie after all.

Binary_Digit · 02-09-07, 08:11 PM

I've searched their official website and I can't find any reference to this report. Can you help me?

United States Department of Defense Office of Inspector General

Billo_Really · 02-09-07, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Binary Digit:
I've searched their official website and I can't find any reference to this report. Can you help me?

Here you go, it's the first two on the list.

Pressroom

Billo_Really · 02-09-07, 09:14 PM

Here's another article on the same issue...

Quote:

Pre-war intelligence gathering under fire
By Julian E. Barnes, Times Staff Writer
2:29 PM PST, February 9, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats assailed Pentagon officials today for insisting to the White House in the months before the Iraq war that Saddam Hussein had direct links to Al Qaeda — despite doubts within the U.S. intelligence community.

Defense Department Inspector General Thomas F. Gimble told the lawmakers that he questioned Douglas J. Feith, the influential former undersecretary, about the incident.

Feith was a prime architect of Bush administration policies and presented policymakers with allegations of links between Iraq and Al Qaeda that did not accurately reflect the views of U.S. intelligence agencies.

"He said it was left out because it was critical of the intelligence community," Gimble said.

tryreading · 02-09-07, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billo_Really

So all that pre-invasion hype was a lie after all.

I learned a new government-speak phrase today. This is the old definition:

Alternative intelligence - Intelligence that is false.

New definition:

Alternative intelligence - Intelligence that is false, but you go to war with the intelligence that you have (or manufactured).

The Iraq war was under way well before it began. It would have started even sooner if inconvenient facts didn't have to be disputed by the Administration with alternative information.

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy... exaggerated a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida while the Intelligence Community remained consistently dubious...

The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy developed, produced, and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al-Qaida relationship, which included some conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the Intelligence Community:

As a result, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy did not provide "the most accurate analysis of intelligence"' to senior decision-makers.

Even if they were!?! Which is it?

The Under Secretary of Defense for Policy... stating that their actions were not intelligence activities and, even if they were, would be appropriate given that they were responding to direction from the Deputy Secretary of Defense.

cherokee · 02-09-07, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billo_Really

So all that pre-invasion hype was a lie after all.

Ok and how does this matter now? Will it help stabilize Iraq? Maybe this will cause the sunni and shia to forgive each other? Iran will stop supporting terrorists groups?

I agree bush only has ½ a brain but this along with you yelling “illegal war” wont change a thing on the ground in Iraq today. Even if you impeach him how will it change anything?

I just don’t see it...

tryreading · 02-09-07, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cherokee

Ok and how does this matter now? Will it help stabilize Iraq? Maybe this will cause the sunni and shia to forgive each other? Iran will stop supporting terrorists groups?

I agree bush only has ½ a brain but this along with you yelling “illegal war” wont change a thing on the ground in Iraq today. Even if you impeach him how will it change anything?

I just don’t see it...

When we don't learn our history we are doomed to repeat it. We are repeating it right now:

Gulf of Tonkin, manufactured incident, used as an excuse to attack another country, stay 12 years, kill almost 60,000 Americans. Saddam and Al Queda, WMD, manufactured intelligence, used as an excuse to attack another country, stay 4 years so far, kill about 3,000 Americans so far...

The more information revealed while the Administration and the Congress that started the war are still in power, the better. Would you rather this information be classified for a decade and then declassified? This country has a short memory. Lets get as much as possible out in the light now and throw it in the laps of the responsible irresponsible people who made the stupid decision.

cherokee · 02-10-07, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tryreading

When we don't learn our history we are doomed to repeat it. We are repeating it right now:

Gulf of Tonkin, manufactured incident, used as an excuse to attack another country, stay 12 years, kill almost 60,000 Americans. Saddam and Al Queda, WMD, manufactured intelligence, used as an excuse to attack another country, stay 4 years so far, kill about 3,000 Americans so far...

The more information revealed while the Administration and the Congress that started the war are still in power, the better. Would you rather this information be classified for a decade and then declassified? This country has a short memory. Lets get as much as possible out in the light now and throw it in the laps of the responsible irresponsible people who made the stupid decision.

Can you show me where I said turn a blind eye?

Billo_Really · 02-10-07, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cherokee
Ok and how does this matter now? Will it help stabilize Iraq? Maybe this will cause the sunni and shia to forgive each other? Iran will stop supporting terrorists groups?

I agree bush only has ½ a brain but this along with you yelling “illegal war” wont change a thing on the ground in Iraq today. Even if you impeach him how will it change anything?

I just don’t see it...

Do you see that over 3000 of your co-workers have died because of lies?