“The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” So said President Bush in his State of the Union address on January 28, 2003. 16 now infamous words.
After receiving a subpoena last Wednesday from House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) regarding, among other issues, those words and how exactly they found their way into the Presidentâs address in the midst of the march to war with Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice went barnstorming across the Sunday Shows yesterday to explain why she feels entirely uncompelled to comply with Waxman and testify before his committee. The crux of her argument: this oneâs already been fully investigated; nothing to see here.
In todayâs episode of TPMtv, Josh responds to Secretary Riceâs rationale. Sure there have been some investigations into the Niger uranium claim, but thus far all of those investigations have been controlled by Republicans.
The Senate Intelligence Committee report, the Silberman-Robb report â both investigations were specifically prohibited from investigating what the White House actually did with the intelligence. They only examined how the intelligence came about. The reality: Condoleezza Rice and the White House do not want this matter investigated by a group of people who actually want to get to the botttom of what happened.
Josh has done plenty of reporting on this issue over the past few years, being one of the few reporters to have actually interviewed Rocco Martino, the Italian middleman who sold for his own profit the phony Niger documents that would prove to be the essential basis for the Presidentâs 16 words. If you know the facts then you’ll know that the Senate Intelligence Committee report is intentionally put together to mislead readers. On Sunday, Rice was busy touting a tissue of lies.
We know that there is no paucity of scandals to try to keep your head wrapped around these days, but this is one that really demands your attention. Because at the core of it, it boils down to how and why America was led into the war in Iraq.
Stay tuned tomorrow for a summary of all the latest developments in the US Attorney scandal.
