Because NSA, Condoleeza Rice is to 'perform' her testimony for President Bush' benefit today, I want to re-post the excerpted 'Waxman Report' as to her - and His - credibility, for those who watch along.
Part two of the 'Waxman Report'. See previous Blog for part one of this excerpting.
Approximately two weeks ago a report of false or mis-leading statements [237 of them] made by 5 Bush Administration officials was in the news. This news is contained on the following document: “United States House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform – Minority Staff Special Investigations Division March 16, 2004; IRAQ ON THE RECORD; THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S PUBLIC STATEMENTS ON IRAQ.” As prepared for Rep. Henry A. Waxman.
This document is contained on PDF and is viewable, but until now, has not been excerpted for reading by a wider audience. This then, is an excerpting of relevant information contained in that report for all Americans to view and use in disseminating this information to the public.
NOTE: for those reading on a blog site, the bulleting and bold may not show up properly. Please feel free to peruse the entire document if there is any doubt as to any statement made herein, by going to the Committee on Government Reform – Minority Office.
My own commentary will follow once the entirety of the excerpted report is put up – probably in three parts.
I have skipped the ‘Executive Summary’ portion and begin with II. METHODOLOGY on page 1. I have taken liberties to substantially edit down the text to fit a reasonable document and summary format. In so doing I will make use of many “…’s” for there are even sentences excerpted ‘in relevant part’ so as to make this over 40 page document more concise. Anyone wishing to view the literal document in its entirety may go to:, http://www.house.gov/reform/min/pdfs_108_2/pdfs_inves/pdf_admin_iraq_on_the_record_rep.pdf and view it in PDF. Any dispute with content may be referred for correction. While sentences are excerpted, none are altered in order of word, not is any intention deliberately changed. This is merely a summary, not an original document or replacement for the entire text.
EXCERPT BEGINS
3. Claims about Uranium from Africa
“[Also]…the Administration’s nuclear claims was the assertion that Iraq had sought to import uranium from Africa….this claim was repeated..as proof..Iraq,,reconstituted its nuclear weapons program….[This was said]..in 7 statements in 6 [public appearances.
“January 28, 2003, President Bush stated: ‘the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa….Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide.”
“….January 23, 2003:..Ms. Rice argued..”the declaration fails to account for or explain Iraq’s efforts to get uranium from abroad…”
“Secretary Rumsfeld stated, “[Saddam] regime…recently was discovered seeking significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”
“These claims..were misleading….the assertion was declared to be ‘not authentic’ by the IAEA….ambassador Wilson concluded that it was “highly doubtful that any such transaction had ever taken place”….he provided detailed briefings to..CIA.. State Department African Affairs Bureau.”
[Later] “Ms. Rice claimed that the white house had no knowledge of these doubts….”[t]he intelligence..did not know at the time, or at levels that got to us…that there was serious questions about this report.”
“[H]ad there been even a peep that the agency did not want that sentence in or that George Tenet did not want that sentence in, that the Director of Central Intelligence did not want it in, it would have been gone.”
“Ms. Rice’s claims were simply false. The CIA sent two memos…one..addressed to Ms. Rice personally – warning against including the claim in a speech by the President….George Tenet..’argued personally’ to Ms. Rice’s deputy [NSA], Stephen Hadley, ‘that the allegation should not be used’…in October 2002 NIE…stated that claims that Iraq sought to acquire uranium in Africa were “highly dubious”.
“…the White House was forced to admit its error. On July 9, 2003, White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer said ..[it]’should not have risen to the level of a presidential speech.’
C. Statements about Iraq’s chemical and Biological Weapons Programs
[the 5]”…made misleading statements regarding Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons programs in 61 public appearances. …the five made 84 different misleading statements. These statements addressed three general topics: (1) Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons,(2) Iraq’s efforts to build unmanned aerial vehicles(UAV’s), and (3) Iraq’s mobile biological laboratories.
“….In September 2002, the Defense Inteligence Agency (DIA) concluded,’There is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons or where Iraq has –or will – establish its chemical warfare agent production facilities.”
“Despite these uncertainties…the five Administration official made 45 misleading statements in 35 appearances about Iraq’s possession of chemical or biological weapons. Often…they projected certainty about their claims. Secretary Powell, “there is no doubt in our mind that he still has chemical weapons stocks.” Secretary Rumsfeld stated: “He has at this moment stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons.” Vice President Cheney asserted: “We know they have biological and chemical weapons.” …President Bush said bluntly, “he’s got them.”
Administration official…claimed…specific details about stockpile locations and movements. …to the United Nations…Secretary Powell showed photographs…stating:”[Let] me give you a closer look…of one of the four chemical bunkers ..sure signs that the bunkers are storing chemical munitions.”
Secretary Rumsfeld…claiming the Iraqis were ‘moving them..in residential neighborhoods. …” And, “We know where they are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east,west,south, and north somewhat.”
President Bush said: “In 1995, after several years of deceit by the Iraqi regime, the head of Iraq’s military industries defected. It was then that the regime was forced to admit that it had produced more than 30,000 liters fo anthrax and other deadly biological agents….This is a massive stockpile of biological weapons that has never been accounted for, and capable of killing millions.”
President Bush failed to disclose, however, that this same defector reported to U.N. inspectors that Iraq had destroyed all of its chemical and biological weapons stocks.
….”the Iraq Survey Group reported..it..is unlikely that chemical, biological stockpiles existed prior to the war. As Dr. Kay concluded: “I’m personally convinced …there were not large stockpiles of newly produced weapons of mass destruction. We don’t find the people the documents or the physical plants that you would expect to find if the production was going on.”
Director of CIA, George Tenet: “his bottom line was…we do not know if production took place – and just as clearly – we have not yet found biological weapons.”
2. Claims about Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
“…Administraqtion official raised the spector of Iraq using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) to distribute chemical or biological weapons directly over the United States…..the U.S. Air Force “does noth agree that Iraq is developing UAV’s primarily intended to be delivery (CBW) agents.”…Air Force experts asserted “[t]he small size of Iraq’s new UAV strongly suggests a primary role of reconnaissance.”
“The five Administration officials did not acknowledge these doubts…Instead, they made misleading assertions in 5 statements in 5 public appearances.”
“…on October 7, 2002, just days before the October 10 and October 11[votes on war resolution] …President Bush [said],”Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons.”…”for missions targeting the United States.” Such statements had an impact on members of Congress…Sen. Bill Nelson voted, …”precisely because of the administration’s UAV evidence.” “I thought there was an imminent threat.”
“In ..the United Nations, Secretary Powell said,”UAV’s are well suited for dispensing chemical and biological weapons. There is ample evidence that Iraq has [is] testing spray devices that could be adapted for UAV’s” …This presentation affected members of Congress. Sen. Dianne Feinstein stated,…”the most compelling to me was the unmanned aerial vehicle and the development of that with spray tanks. And he kind of laid down the fact that this could be in our country and there was a possibility that this might be used against the United States.”
“President Bush later [said]:”all the world has now seen the footage of an Iraqi aircraft with a fuel tank modified to spray biological agents over wide areas…A UAV launched from a vessel off the American coast could reach hundreds of miles inland.”
“The Iraq Survey Group, Dr. Kay’s January 28, 2004 testimony,Iraq’s UAV program “was not a strong point….there was no “existing deployment capability..for any sort of systematic military attack.”
3. Claims about Mobile Biological Laboratories
“…[the] DIA concluded that they were most likely used to produce hydrogen for artillery weather balloons.” [Another analyst said], “Only one of 15..analysts endorsed the white paper conclusion.”
“…the five officials repeatedly misled Congress..asserting..they were proof of Iraq’s biological weapons program,…President Bush ..proclaimed: “we found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories. You remember when Colin Powell stood up in front of the world, and he said, Iraq has got laboratories, mobile labs to build biological weapons. They’re illegal. They’re against the united Nations resolutions, and we’ve so far discovered two. And we’ll find more as time goes on. But for those who say we haven’t found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they’re worng, we found them.”
Powell said:
• On May 21, 2003,..”The intelligence community has really looked hard at these vans, and we can find no other purpose for them. Although you can’t find actual germs on them, they have been cleaned and we don’t know whether they have been used for that purpose. And we have taken our time on this one because we wanted to make sure we got it rigt. And the intelligence community, I think, is convinced now that that’s the purpose they served.”
On May 22, 2003 he said, “So far, we have found the biological weapons vans that I spoke about when I presented the case to the United Nations on the 5th of February, and there is no doubt in our minds now that those were designed for only one purpose, and that was to make biological weapons.”
“…Dr. Kay’s January 28, 2004, testimony, “the consensus opinion is that..their actual intended use was not for the production of biological weapons….Dr. Kay explained that the trailers “were..designed to produce hydrogen for weather balloons, or perhaps to produce rocket fuel.”
EXCERPT ENDS
Please click on link for verbatim copy verify of the 'Waxman Report'. This is part 2 of what will be probably 5 parts on this matter. feel free to reply or e-mail: wahkonta@graffiti.net Thank you and Blog ON.