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Posted by razmataz on Feb-12-2004 23:03:

Blame Clinton for Iraq...

no comment...

quote:
GOP Blames Clinton for Iraq Intel Lapse
Thu Feb 12,12:39 PM ET 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.

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.

Posted by rizo on Feb-13-2004 02:35:

You know what, it was Bush's decision, not Clintons.

Posted by razmataz on Feb-13-2004 04:52:

quote:
Originally posted by rizen
You know what, it was Bush's decision, not Clintons.

i was being sarcastic...

Posted by DaveSZ on Feb-13-2004 18:44:

Everyone knows it was Jimmy Carter's fault.

Posted by Trancer-X on Mar-14-2004 19:24:

http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm

Posted by Izzy on Mar-14-2004 19:42:

quote:
Originally posted by Trancer-X
http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm

woah, i've never seen that...
thats some hard core proof that this intel lapse was deeper then people think

Posted by Yoepus on Mar-15-2004 04:44:

Personally, I think it was Monica's fault.

Damn fat bitch

Posted by Nadi on Mar-15-2004 07:37:

Would anyone object to me blaming my econ teacher?

Posted by Ondrayce on Mar-15-2004 10:56:

Nope. Its just as reasonable as blaming Clinton.

Posted by Shakka on Mar-15-2004 14:27:

Well, I don't know about you guys, but I blame Al Quaeda. They are the ones who made the ultimate decision to do what they did. There may have been catalysts and specific conditions which made it easier for them to pull off, but ultimate responsibility lies in the hands of those who chose the specific actions we all saw. I don't blame Clinton--maybe he could've done more, maybe not. Either way, he wasn't the one inside the terrorists' heads pulling strings. Clinton wasn't flying a plane. In the end, I hold people accountable for their own actions.

Then again, that's just me and many people on this board have a problem with personal responsibility(which I'll never understand).

Posted by Moongoose on Mar-15-2004 15:16:

Well lets see if the Bush administration can sink even lower than this.

Posted by occrider on Mar-15-2004 17:54:

Can't we just do like the song says and blame canada?