Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

CIA stuff

David Ignatius, apropos Libby, says that the battle between the White House and the CIA was the wrong battle. The Belmont Club has a few thoughts on all that--and Iran--and you make of it what you will. There is always hope that the CIA will get better.

Discussions - 4 Comments

Peter,

This is a serious question, as I don’t know the answer. Al Gore is quoted in the Belmont Club piece, as is Hillary, as saying "We know......" Where and how are we to assume that they got their information?

President Clinton was quoted in 1998, when Iraq DID have WMD’s. But are we to assume that there was a direct line from the CIA to Al Gore in 2002? Or, should we assume that what senators "knew" in 2002 from the CIA was actually routed through, or filtered by, the White House?

how easily David Ignatius pawned off Wilson’s outright lies as "mistatements"?

Ignatius is a partisan hack.

lest you make a fool of yourself. To wit: "Or, should we assume that what senators "knew" in 2002 from the CIA was actually routed through, or filtered by, the White House?"

By law, the Senate Intelligence Committee receives the exact same intelligence information as the White House. Furthermore this committee may call for close-door face-to-face meeting with CIA offices to clarify anything they understand about the information they’re given (as did happen during the lead up to the Iraq War Resolution).

It is then the responsibility of these committee members to makes their findings and conclusions known to other members of Congress who are not permitted to see this intelligence, so they all can make an informed vote.

Of course, they can also play lots of games, and when things go awry they can actually lie and say they never saw nothin’ the president saw.

Thanks, A.N. :

Good to know!

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