Sitting here watching the McClellan early afternoon briefing. Here’s another question. The White House argument is that President made a decision that such-and-such information needed to be heard by the American people. McClellan just said it was “provided to the American people.” But he didn’t provide it to the American people. He provided it to Judy Miller. Legal or not, it was by definition a ‘leak’ since it was revealed anonymously to a single reporter. How does that wash? What is the rationale?
Also, remember how the administration earlier refused to declassify parts of the NIE that cast doubts on the president’s assertions about Iraqi WMD.
This from former Sen. Graham’s oped from the Post back in November …
There were troubling aspects to this 90-page document. While slanted toward the conclusion that Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction stored or produced at 550 sites, it contained vigorous dissents on key parts of the information, especially by the departments of State and Energy. Particular skepticism was raised about aluminum tubes that were offered as evidence Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear program. As to Hussein’s will to use whatever weapons he might have, the estimate indicated he would not do so unless he was first attacked.
Under questioning, Tenet added that the information in the NIE had not been independently verified by an operative responsible to the United States. In fact, no such person was inside Iraq. Most of the alleged intelligence came from Iraqi exiles or third countries, all of which had an interest in the United States’ removing Hussein, by force if necessary.
The American people needed to know these reservations, and I requested that an unclassified, public version of the NIE be prepared. On Oct. 4, Tenet presented a 25-page document titled “Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs.” It represented an unqualified case that Hussein possessed them, avoided a discussion of whether he had the will to use them and omitted the dissenting opinions contained in the classified version. Its conclusions, such as “If Baghdad acquired sufficient weapons-grade fissile material from abroad, it could make a nuclear weapon within a year,” underscored the White House’s claim that exactly such material was being provided from Africa to Iraq.
Shorter Bush: Classification is a tool of my political strategy.
