Anybody surprised by this?
The Bush Administration apparently does not want a U.S. military study that found no direct connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda to get any attention. This morning, the Pentagon cancelled plans to send out a press release announcing the report’s release and will no longer make the report available online.
The report was to be posted on the Joint Forces Command website this afternoon, followed by a background briefing with the authors. No more. The report will be made available only to those who ask for it, and it will be sent via U.S. mail from Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia.
It won’t be emailed to reporters and it won’t be posted online.
Asked why the report would not be posted online and could not be emailed, the spokesman for Joint Forces Command said: “We’re making the report available to anyone who wishes to have it, and we’ll send it out via CD in the mail.”
Another Pentagon official said initial press reports on the study made it “too politically sensitive.”
ABC News obtained the comprehensive military study of Saddam Hussein’s links to terrorism on Tuesday. Read the report’s executive summary HERE.
The study, which was due to be released Wednesday, found no “smoking gun” or any evidence of a direct connection between Saddam’s Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist organization.
The report is based on the analysis of some 600,000 official Iraqi documents seized by US forces after the invasion. It is also based on thousands of hours of interrogations of former top officials in Saddam’s government who are now in U.S. custody.
Others have reached the same conclusion, but no previous study has had access to so much information. Further, this is the first official acknowledgement from the U.S. military that there is no evidence Saddam had ties to Al Qaeda.
UPDATE: According to ABC News, “[The report] won’t be emailed to reporters and it won’t be posted online.”
According to our great C&L commenters, it can be found here.
No Trackbacks To “BREAKING: White House Not Releasing Damaging Pentagon Report“
first?
Oh good God. Out of whose pocket comes the cost of duping the cds and mailing them to those of us who will surely ask for one? Jesus H. Christ on a cracker.
I had to leave that last topic, its to hurtful and was causing me to be ugly with my own people, now maybe we can go after some real scum.
SHOCKING!!!
Incredibly stupid decision. That report will be online in no time, just because the government doesn’t put it online will not keep it off the net.
hahaha - “politically sensitive”. $5 says that means “the Democrats were right, again, and we don’t want to publicize it”. I think we should all start requesting it - that’d be hilarious. Give them a few million orders to fill, then run around and tape pages from them in random places.
These lying fucks…
Is there anything they won’t do?
I just requested a copy of the CD from the Joint Forces “Contact Us” page at http://www.jwfc.jfcom.mil/weba.....edback.jsp
So is the idea that when you ask to have a copy of this report it accidentally get’s lost in the mail?
Gee-whiz. That’s a stunner. But let me guess: They have an immediate press release regarding the Elliott Spitzer affair.
“Yessir, lemme, get right on it, sir. You say you want me to use the word, ‘whore’ instead of ‘prostitute’? Got it!”
Substance and reality have no meaning in Bush’s world.
How does one avail oneself of these here discuseseses?
Can I order one on the Internets?
I don’t why the Bush regime cares if the report gets released or not. It’s not like Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid are going to do anything about it.
Oops… I was a-typin’ when I shoulda been a-readin’…
Thanks Eric!
“too politically sensitive.”
Anyone else outraged by this?
Obama had better say something about this in the next 48 hours.
Who didn’t know that Saddam had no ties to al Qaeda? Good God. I’d buy the dang CD just to send it to the swiftboaters and Drudge and Limbaugh and Bill O’Really and the rest. I want to see people like Michael Ledeen held responsible for this farce and tragedy. What a nightmere.
If you got nothing to hide, why the hell are you trying to hide everything?
Until the Pentagon reverses itself, which it will, here’s a first crack at the 600-document dataset, produced by Joint Forces Command. More on the WMD issue than AQ, but the conclusions are essentially the same.
www.jfcom.mil/newslink/storyarchive/2006/ipp.pdf
www.wikileaks.org
What, don’t expect them to release it to the public. The public shouldn’t have to be subjected to the truth. How can Cheney keep telling the lies if everyone already know the truth? How can McCain rush to war with Iran if the public knows the truth? How can they go to war with any of the axis of evil if everbody knows that there is no axis of evil?
Another Pentagon official said initial press reports on the study made it “too politically sensitive.”
Nothing more politically sensitive than the truth.
Well, let’s get it and publish it on line!
Is impeachment still off the table Nancy?
Where are we headed now Mr. Ledeen?
http://www.thewashingtonnote.c.....002278.php
The White House has officially gotten away with murder. 600,000, 600,000, 600,000 pages!!!!!!!! How many pages of information does the White Houseneed to be proven wrong, 10,000,000 documents? How about a billion? Nevermind, if the White House had every bit of inofation,they would still lie through their asses. America is Fucked!!!!!
wow. it took them 5 years to NOT release a report telling everyone what they already know, at least the people who were paying attention.
What a colossal and gargantuan surprise.
koko @ 9:
and then your name and address go on the post-22nd amendment list of potential problem people.
Yet another reason to impeach the bastards…
They say they won’t release it because it’s too politically sensitive.
I ran that through Babelfish doing a bullshit to English translation and it came up with this:
Releasing it will cut into profit margins and put neo-cons out of office.
Those Babelfish guys are getting better with that software every day!
Can we start a petition to have everybody and their brother request a copy of the report? The deluge of requests may help expedite a change of policy.
There’s an obvious response to this for any wingnuts that might be hanging around these parts - heh, heh, heh, - and that would be that the report is clearly incomplete given that the key documents had been hidden in the same place as all those WMDs. They’re either in the sand somewhere or stashed away in Syria or on board that ship that’s been chugging around the globe ever since the other Hussein sent ‘em on their way so he could go to the gallows claiming his innocence - as if that mattered. Point being, if we didn’t want the inspectors to keep on keeping on looking for weapons, no way we’re gonna ‘come clean’ on our own nickel on the al-queda thing. I mean, how in blazes did they let the thing get this far in the first place - musta been on Gates watch, Rumsfled would never have allowed a minute to be spent on this.
i.e. it’s damaging to the Bush regime’s case for invasion and the Republican party’s political fortunes. There can be no other reading of that statement.
The report should sink Hillary and McCain in one foul blow.
of cooooooooouuuurse!
To Joint Forces Command:
To Whom it May Concern:
Per your recorded instructions, please find enclosed a self-addressed stamped envelope and a fully-executed notarized non-disclosure agreement with the forum selection clause (Military Tribunals, Guantanamo Bay) initialed. Also enclosed is the signed loyalty oath card (Jurat attached) and the $185 money order for the processing fee (in Euros).
It may also force the impeachment and imprisonment of Bush & co.
koko @ 9:
Other info I requested has been sent to me.
Political sensitivity training?
This is just one more brown stain on America’s underwear while being worn by George W. Bush. His legacy will be looked upon as the shit-stain on American history - if our country survives another decade or two. The damage done to our Constitution, our civil liberties, and our standing in the world may never be repaired. Thanks George. Mission fucking accomplished!
more at my blog…
Well, I can understand that. Bush is still trying to cope with the fact that Sweden has an army.
Joe Wilson was right - now can we please frogmarch these assholes out of my White House in orange suits and handcuffs?
Will C&L post the contact information of who I can call or write to in order to get the report? I’ll get it and post the hell out of it.
Look, don’t fool yourselves - they’re going to set up a committee that sounds similar that comes to different conclusions in order to obfuscate the issue. Witness the “Iraq Survey Group”, not the “Iraq Study Group”, publishing a report that indicated there was a link, though a weak one, between Saddam and al-Qaeda/Osama. Furthermore, it was full of insinuations that admitted they didn’t have facts to back up claims but implied that they had facts to back a “desire” on Saddam’s part to have such an involvement. That report was touted by conservative talking heads (the first time I heard of it was on Colmes’ radio show) and probably some administration officials.
This Joint Forces report will not finally “clear the air” on the issue - they’ll bury it and devise something that claims the opposite. The lie never dies amongst the wingnuts/administration. Anything definitive, they’ll wait a few weeks/months, and then say “actually, according to more research, we were right.” Witness how the right laid low for a little while about the “madrassa” that Obama attended after the story was debunked, but it has been slowly creeping back. Or, better yet, think about Whitewater, or abortion causing breast cancer, or…the list goes on. Interminably.
Swashbuckler @ 5:
It depends on the format on the CD. They could do a pdf in a graphic mode that would not be text retrievable and would require additional work, maybe even a lot of work, to convert.
More crap. They want to take as much sting out as possible. Bastards.
We paid for it. Oh wait, we borrowed the money.
Well, it’s always good to see the truth reinforced by anyone, even the perpetuators of the myth. But what is tragic in all of this is that there is going to be a lot of people who are going to breathe a sigh of relief and change the direction of their mind from one of “holding back one’s judgment until the ‘truth’ comes out”, to “yes! the ‘truth’ is now here”. It’s tragic because what this means is that these people have come to think that truth is only truth if the government reports it.
There’s going to be a lot of slack jawed yokels who are going to say “Well I’ll be! So Saddam didn’t fund Al-Qaeda? Well, he’s dead anyhow, so good riddance. I hated it when people were on his side.” Then all is forgotten, because “war is hell”.
What is also tragic is that the NIE report that showed the same conclusions was dismissed.
This is how big government operates, folks. Millions of deaths and lies to cover up lies to cover up lies.
I used to have some sympathy and respect for Ferraro, but it’s largely gone now. She’s been so wrong and so classless on this.
Bushco doesn’t want anyone to know they fucked up yet again?
Too late, I think that horse done went and got out the barn door before Chimpy’s hachet man could close it.. Of course I realize that won’t stop the GOP Winston’s of the world from trying to do a re-write next week….Hopefully the blogs will continue to burn this story into the public conscience….JD
What is it going to take to get the Congress to impeach these bastards?!
“We must speak the truth about terror.” — George W. Bush
This is a very understandable action.
The Bush Administration’s policy from Day One has been: If it is the truth it a state secret. If it is a lie make sure the press trumpets it 24/7.
Had the report said there was a connection between saddam and qaeda Bush would have had it plastered on every governement website in the country. It would be on Fox news 24/7 and Bush would be giving daily press conferences about it.
But since it says there was NO CONNECTION, Bush tries to hide it or classify it.
Hide it in the shaddows so people don’t realize the bullshit lies they were told.
BUSH NAZIS
The report is based on the analysis of some 600,000 official Iraqi documents seized by US forces after the invasion.
it just occurred to me…
are these the same documents that were also made public, that the wingnut websites were going to study, take it upon themselves to
find the “facts”? i don’t remember the details, just the story…
am i way off?
Bush wouldn’t know what the ‘truth’ was if it bit him the ass.
Does anyone have this report or know where it is online? Can you link it if so???
It’s not like Waxman, Pelosi, or anyone else in Congress would do anything with the report anyway. With all of the problems that they’re already not looking into, the Pentagon report can just be one more that gets put into the back burner.
I’ll just wait for the new version of the report to be put out by Cheney and company. It’ll be a pop-up book written in crayon. Lots of pictures so that even GW can enjoy it.
katy @ 51: