http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...=/ap/20040212/ap_on_go_co/intelligence_debate GOP Blames Clinton for Iraq Intel Lapse 36 minutes ago Add Politics - U. S. Congress to My Yahoo! WASHINGTON - In a sign of how Republicans may try to quell criticism of prewar intelligence in Iraq (news - web sites), the head of the House Intelligence Committee tried Wednesday to direct blame to the Clinton administration. Latest headlines: · Powell Defends War, Says He Expected WMD AP - 33 minutes ago · GOP Blames Clinton for Iraq Intel Lapse AP - 36 minutes ago · Fearful Iraqis Weigh Working With U.S. washingtonpost.com - 39 minutes ago Special Coverage Rep. Porter J. Goss, R-Fla., said he heard a 1998 speech in which then-President Clinton (news - web sites) warned that something must be done about Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and his weapons of mass destruction. "Unfortunately, he did not complete that task before his term expired," Goss said at a Capitol Hill press conference. Goss said the Clinton administration gutted intelligence assets in the 1990s and today's intelligence analysts "did the best they could with what they had." Goss also said Clinton rarely, if ever, met with intelligence officials and that top officials in the administration were not "particularly engaged" on the subject. Goss said an effort at political correctness prompted intelligence agencies to stop using "distasteful people" for human intelligence, meaning America lost people who served as its eyes and ears around the world. Calls to Clinton's office were not immediately returned Wednesday. But a former Clinton aide on security disputed Goss' statement. "I respect Porter Goss and his service to the CIA (news - web sites), but I think he's part of the administration's attempt to redirect attention from what's really going on here, which is their distortion of the evidence" against Saddam, said Robert Boorstin, who was Clinton's national security speechwriter. The Bush administration has come under severe criticism for saying it was going to war to disarm Iraq and then failing to find alleged banned weapons. Critics want a review of why the intelligence was bad and whether Bush and others in his administration purposely exaggerated the intelligence to justify war and oust Saddam. "Nobody would disagree that the guy had to go," said Boorstin. "But the question is do you distort the evidence ... do you deliberately mislead the American people and the world." Now a senior vice president for national security at the Center for American Progress, Boorstin also said it was actually Bush's father who was first to cut intelligence spending after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. When intelligence spending was increased in 1993, Goss complimented the Clinton administration "for going into this and seeing our true need," Boorstin quoted Goss as saying at the time.
all blame and no solutions. the only people the gop will not blame is Adam and Eve. while we're at it let's blame MLK for the race relations problem we have in this country. let's blame Janet for the decay of moral standards today. gimmie a f***ing break!!!
Yeah, the "Even though we're screwing things up, it would be worse under those guys" campaign slogan should go over real smooth.
The real person responsible is ultra-liberal Senator Frank Church and his hearings on the CIA in the 70's. That sonuvabitch largely put the clamps on the CIA's ability to gather good intel and hopefully he is burning in the deepest pit of hell right now. IF anyone is responsible for 9/11, it is him. link
The real person responsible is ultra-liberal Senator Frank Church and his hearings on the CIA in the 70's. That sonuvabitch largely put the clamps on the CIA's ability to gather good intel and hopefully he is burning in the deepest pit of hell right now. IF anyone is responsible for 9/11, it is him. Of course, a lot of this was caused by the CIA doing some really illegal crap and having terrible oversight (like allowing James Angleton to internally destroy all Soviet counter-intelligence projects). The Church hearings were a disgrace in how they were conducted, but they were caused by massive abuses within the CIA as well as Ford's absolute incompetence in defending the CIA (accidentally implying that the CIA had planned assassinations within the US, etc).
The Church hearings saved US intelligence as much as they hindered it by forcing major reforms within the agency (like getting rid of Angleton).
Buck stops with the sitting president - not the previous administration - not a senator from the seventies. Bush had the correct intelligence he chose to go another direction. Clinton has attempted to help Bush on this issue, I imagine this will cause him to be a bit more outspoken on the poor use of intell by the current administration. This is nothing but Republican desperation.
Ahh yes, nothing like taking responsibility. That's what I've always heard that Republicans wanted was governing policies that allowed people to take responsibility.
Well, I agree the buck stops here, as this is what will happen with White regarding Brown's inept way to manage a city... However, GW did inherit crap, just as BW, so you just can't disregard everything and expect this to go smoothly... GW has had to endure the most of any president regarding tragedy, sluggish economy, decreased consumer confidence, War, etc... He has done a damn good job keeping the country together and will go down as one of the great presidents this country has had after his second term is complete...
GW has had to endure the most of any president regarding tragedy, sluggish economy, decreased consumer confidence, War, etc... He has done a damn good job keeping the country together and will go down as one of the great presidents this country has had after his second term is complete... From his first three years, he has been the worst president in my 44 year lifetime.
You can't be serious. There have been far worse tragedies in our country's history, far worse financial recessions and depressions, and the war in Iraq was entirely of Bush's doing. I agree with No Worries. Worst president in my lifetime and probably worse than any in the 20th century.
Resident Bait -n- Switch is definitely the worst president in my lifetime. When the President is sworn into office, he swears to uphold the Constitution. All Resident Bait -n- Switch has done with the Constitution is wipe his ass with it.
That's a good question, and I think a lot of that will have to do with how the growing debt and deficit is dealt with. The dumping of that burden might play a factor in a coming depression.
