I just went through Bush’s NIE presser and it was pretty disturbing all around. The war drumbeat against Iran has been going on for sooo long now. You can understand why this report shatters the Bush/Cheney doctrine of immorally—attacking–a–country—that hasn’t attacked us. It’s a virtual replay of their Iraq intelligence scam. NBC’s David Gregory, called Bush on his “hyping” this scam just like he did with Iraq. Bush ineffectually told David Gregory that he just got the results of the NIE report last week.
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Q Mr. President, thank you. I’d like to follow on that. When you talked about Iraq, you and others in the administration talked about a mushroom cloud; then there were no WMD in Iraq. When it came to Iran, you said in October, on October 17th, you warned about the prospect of World War III, when months before you made that statement, this intelligence about them suspending their weapons program back in ‘03 had already come to light to this administration. So can’t you be accused of hyping this threat? And don’t you worry that that undermines U.S. credibility?
THE PRESIDENT: David, I don’t want to contradict an August reporter such as yourself, but I was made aware of the NIE last week. In August, I think it was Mike McConnell came in and said, we have some new information. He didn’t tell me what the information was; he did tell me it was going to take a while to analyze. Why would you take time to analyze new information? One, you want to make sure it’s not disinformation. You want to make sure the piece of intelligence you have is real. And secondly, they want to make sure they understand the intelligence they gathered: If they think it’s real, then what does it mean? And it wasn’t until last week that I was briefed on the NIE that is now public.
Not that it mattered to him, but Bush and Cheney and any number of warmongers go around spewing venom and trying to get the public behind another military strike while he’s waiting for the new intelligence to be verified? OK, I know there’s a neocon always needing a war fix—and probably has dark suspicions about the NIE report, but this
And here’s what Stephen Hadley said yesterday.
Q Steve, when was the first time the President was given the inkling of something? I’m not clear on this. Was this months ago, when the first information started to become available to intelligence agencies?
MR. HADLEY: You ought to go back to the intelligence community. We will get you an answer on that. There’s two questions: one, when did they first get the information? — you ought to ask that to them — two, when was the President notified that there was new information available? We’ll try and get you a precise answer. As I say, it was, in my recollection, is in the last few months. Whether that is October — August, September, we’ll try and get you an answer to that.
I’m a big “Texas Hold em” fan and Josh Marshall caught a “tell” that indicates he knew before a week ago.
If you go back to his October 17th press conference, the one where he spoke of ‘World War III’ he changes his wording. It’s no longer the need to prevent the Iranians from getting the bomb. Now it’s the necessity of “preventing them from hav[ing] the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.”
That’s the tell.
That change is no accident. He wants claims that will survive the eventual revelation of this new intelligence — while also continuing to hype the imminence of the Iranian nuclear threat that his spy chiefs are telling him likely does not exist.
They’ve shifted their rules of engagement again to attacking a country for knowledge alone.
Scott Horton has more:
But one highly reliable intelligence community source I consulted immediately after Hadley spoke answered my question this way: “This is absolutely absurd. The NIE has been in substantially the form in which it was finally submitted for more than six months. The White House, and particularly Vice President Cheney, used every trick in the book to stop it from being finalized and issued. There was no last minute breakthrough that caused the issuance of the assessment.”
Filed Under: George W. Bush, Intelligence Gathering, Iran
Tags: George Bush, Iran, NIE
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[Deleted. Off topic-Sitemonitor]
He’s a lying sack of S**t.
Bush lying about his lies.
Bush knew. And lied about it.
And he still wants to invade Iran.
cooked facts….what else is new?
While I’m pretty sure Bush knew about the report well before last week, he’s known for being such an aloof leader that it is possible really didn’t READ it until last week. HOWEVER… I’m pretty damn sure Cheney and other cabinet officials knew full well this report findings months ago and yet they just kept hyping the rhetoric. THAT is an impeachable offense.
I vaguely remember either the State Department of the OVP trying to block the NIE’s release. Any links to that info? I haven’t done the Google News search yet.
Mislead the People, mislead the people
-wackiavelli
Must be the one’s they retyped from his margin notes in crayon.
Bush Logic:
Just because he’s stopped drinking, there’s no reason he cannot start up again, or already has.
Note to Pelosi: You’ve simply must impeach this fool for the sake of the country!
“Don’t you worry that that undermines U.S. credibility?”
Which credibility would this be?
Bush is a fake cowboy, afraid of horses.
A “recovered” alcoholic that 24% of the country would love to have a beer with.
A “pro-lifer” who laughingly, mockingly, happily put more people to death while he was Governor of Texas than any other Governor, and joyfully attacked a country who had not attacked us, leading to the death of (at least) hundreds of thousands.
Why would he worry about anything undermining U.S. credibility?
He doesn’t give a shit.
TimV @ 6:
Brings up a good point. Could Cheney say the same thing about the report? And if he can’t, doesn’t that mean he’s incharge and not Bush? Since when is the VP the first stop for vital intelligence? Since when does the VP sit and say nothing while his president marches down the wrong rhetorical path?
I’m sure he’s telling the truth that he just heard about this a week ago. He’s the neocon’s monkey and only knows what to say when they tell him what to say. It’s pathetic to watch this illicit leader of the so-called free world. Pathetic indeed.
Marc @ 7:
Mislead the sheeple!
He sounds more flustered and his speech is more halting than usual, as though he might actually be uncomfortable telling his patently false stupid lies. However, the key point I take from his comments is “Don’t bother me with the facts, I’ve already made up my mind so I’m not interested.”
So Bush is saying that before he made his “WW III” remark, no one in his administration ever checked with any intelligence agency to be sure he had the latest facts re Iran’s supposed nuclear development. Incredible. Just how stupid does he think Americans are??
Bush is using an ostrich-like manner of governing - bury your head in a hole until you happen to hear new facts.
I’m never really surprised when these lapdog reporters fail to follow up on an obviously PARSED answer, and a half truth. Why don’t they know what every parent of a three year old knows?
Rove: “I didn’t know her NAME and I didn’t LEAK her name.”
Reporter: *Okay, that’s good enough for me. I guess that means he didn’t leak any information.*
Bush: “I was MADE AWARE of the NIE in August, and I was BRIEFED on it last week.”
Gregory: *Okay, that’s good enough for me. I guess that means he didn’t know that Iran had suspended it’s weapons program four years ago, and knew that when he was banging the war drum.*
Actually, he hadn’t read the NIE from last week yet,
Uncle dickie couldn’t read it to him since he was having his neck electrodes re-jumped.
I think the word “bushwhacked” has been redefined to mean “blatantly lied to”…
one time, my 6th grade class found out that the best way to get on my nerves was to give me a titty-twister, so I beat a few of them up and they forgot.
Liar, Liar, Liar….. How can anyone in another country trust the United States when the leaders of the US consistently lie?How can anyone trust the GOP when they consistently lie? What else can anyone call this situation except these guys are liars?
listening to John [the stach] Bolton dissemble about the NIE with Wolf Blitzer. He’s heartbroken, blaming the same Hippies in the State Department who got Iraq so wrong {right!}. Wolf is doing OK holding his feet to the fire.
Hello Nancy Pelosi- START IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS DAMN IT!! We can not afford to have this lying, incompetent serve out his full term.
when has he NOT lied?
So here’s the hole that Bush has dug for himself. If you believe what he says (that he wasn’t told about the results of a vital NIE until nearly 6 months after it’s release), then he’s a completely ineffectual leader who cannot manage his own administration. If you don’t believe him (and he was well aware of these findings while still making dire claims about Iran), then he’s a flat out liar.
Which would you rather have as a leader, 1) an aloof and unaware president who is so disrespected by his staff that they just don’t tell him vital information OR 2) a liar? Those are the choices just presented to us by Bush himself.
He needs homeland security to put out his flaming pants.
why is there no case for impeachment? are the dems guilty too? they may be cowards, but why???? perhaps they secretly want the same things but let bush et all take the heat? or am i way off?
I hope K.O. has a good show tonight.
God, I will be glad when he’s out of office. I am so f^(%ing sick of bushspeak.
The words knowledge and intelligence coming out of this clowns mouth, now that undermines credibility.
I hope David Gregory’s questions at this press conference don’t cause any more “Polarization” like the dirty blogs do.
TimV @ 25:
I’d rather have neither but it’s clear we have both.
At the end of the press conference David Gregory and Bush smile at each other like blushing school boys. What is that about? I think Gregory pitch his question to Bush so that Bush could get a chance to lie with his answer. There is something weird going on between David Gregory and President Bush.
We’ll soon be enlightened that Mcviegh was indeed Iranian. Or McVeigh was a regular at an Iranian resteraunt, etc. Then condi rice will go in front of the UN and menace the world body by shaking a vile full of anthrax. Then an iranian passport will miraculously appear at ground zero as the 20th hijacker. Then we will be ordered to shop while downloadspeeds to liberal blogs become painfully and immobilizingly slow. Then we will accept the new freedom-lite. Just like we are currently doing.
Git ‘em, John Amato.
Well, I never thought I’d see the day when the heads of our nation’s intelligence agencies would be more interested in getting the “facts” straight than in winning the presidential medal of freedom. Sad.
kerplunk @ 33:
It is referred to Mutual Benefit.
ysbaddaden @ 18:
:lol:
Bush has not a shred of shame! What a travesty that he’s now blaming Iran for no agreement between the US and Iran in 2003 when in reality, the Bush administration (figuratively) spit in Iran’s face when they made overtures for rapprochement back then. In fact, Bush’s rebuff of Iranian overtures was in part responsible for the electoral defeat of moderate President Mohammad Khatami’s.
Nuke-LEE-ER, fuckhead! NOOK-LEE-UR!!!!!!!! Not bloody NUKE-YEW-LER!!
GODS DAMNIT, you fucking moron!!!!
HERE, you dolt!
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/nuclear
And STOP giggling, you prevaricating baboon!!! Grow the hell up, for all our sakes!
[pounding head on desk with daily knowledge that this man “leads” our country]
And you stupid ass Republicans went after Clinton over lying about a bj. If the Republicans had any honor, THEY would be knocking Bush’s door down demanding his resignation. Do you people feel shame or embarrassment? Don’t worry,we’ll clean up this fucking mess. It’ll take years though.
Of course this has cheney’s finger prints all over it. The head war monger was so wanting to add one more war notch to his belt. I guess he figured the third time would be a charm and maybe we would win this one.
THE PRESIDENT: David, I don’t want to contradict an August reporter such as yourself, but I was made aware of the NIE last week. In August, I think it was Mike McConnell came in and said, we have some new information. He didn’t tell me what the information was;
…and dummy, being “just the boss,” didn’t bother to ask what information McConnell had that was so important he’d mention it. Not even a hint about what it might say.
This is either the least curious President ever - or the most curious. The second curious not meant in a good way.
Personally I think Dubya’s an effing liar. always has been, always will be.
I’m assuming Darth is popping Nitrostat sublinguals like M&M’s on hearing this got out.
I hate this lying little twerp as much as any sensible person, but the Iran thing is just a distraction. Iran is a much larget country that hasn’t had it’s military broken by years of economic isolation and bombing. With NO international backing for military operations, there’s just nothing that Bushco. Inc. can do except what they do best: tell us there’s something out there that is very scary.
Real Democracies do not threaten to attack other nations based upon their know how to build weapons. How many more innocent people will we allow the war criminals in the White House to murder before we turn over those bastards to the international community to face war crimes trials? The neocons have turned America into 1984 where the government protects the guilty, jails, tortures, & murders the innocent, promotes war in the name of peace, blind folds Americans with dollar bills, & places headphones around our ear that tell us to live in fear.
He not only lies, he talks to us as if we are children. In fact, it is her who needs to have things explained to him in a simplified fashion, and then he repeats the summaries he memorizes to the press. He reveals the tactics that are used to prepare him for his rare press conferences.
I sure would be scared if a bunch of baddies got nuclear weapons and headed for the Atlanta suburbs. But nukeyulur weapons, whatever they are, sound like fun!
ChrisM70 @ 31:
Of course there’s no “polarization” when GOP pundits and propagandists accuse the democrats as wanting the surge to fail for purely political motives.
jakeonfire @ 27:
It wouldn’t suprise me at all. They ALL have the same masters,too bad its not the people that voted for them…
I know this is off-topic. but is that a toupee that Bush is wearing? Check it out after he says “We have some new in-for-ma-tion.”