Three words: Senate Intelligence Committee. Full access to all military intelligence. You're a liar. Your only true statement was the very last line.
No, I am not a liar and I resent the charge.
The majority of intell was directed through Bush's Pentagon based office of special plans and then onward many times to individuals in congress, in short, Bush strong armed and manipulated many into believing his office's assessment of threat. His assessments were not veted by the intel groups - Curveball was a perfect example of this process.
"The
Office of Special Plans (OSP), created by the
Bush administration, stovepiped raw intelligence related to Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq to high level Bush administration officials. Professional analysts from other departments determined that many of these reports originated with dishonest sources or were untrue for other reasons (see e.g.
Curveball), and the process of vetting would have prevented their reaching decision makers through normal channels. This stovepiping by the OSP had the effect of providing a substantial portion of the untrue allegations that formed the publicly declared justifications for the
2003 Invasion of Iraq, such as allegations of collaboration with Al Qaeda and an ongoing program of
weapons of mass destruction.[SUP]
[2]"
[/SUP]During Bush Administration, around 2002-2003, the
United States Department of Defense by the under-secretary for defence,
Douglas Feith created a specialized group focucing on all military efforts surrounding Iraq, Afghanistan, and Near East countries, and also efforts related to the Global War on Terror, inside the Pentagon. This group was said to be responsible for '
Stovepiping' intelligence on presence and threats by
Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq under Saddam Hussein regime, which has been cause of Iraq invasion. This group was called an ad-hoc and arbituary group, but in 2004, the group functions were transferred to the "
Office of Special Plans." [SUP]
[8]
[/SUP]As to your Committee on Intelligence, while it is generaly true that the Senate oversees intel groups, they are not necessarily privey to that intel and in this case, since Bush re-routed much of the information through his own office, congress was not directly offered processed information.
On June 20, 2003, Senator Roberts and Senator John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV), the Committee's vice-chairman, issued a
joint press release announcing that the committee would conduct a detailed review of the Iraqi WMD intelligence process, including the following areas:
- the quantity and quality of U.S. intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction programs, ties to terrorist groups, Saddam Hussein's threat to stability and security in the region, and his repression of his own people;
- the objectivity, reasonableness, independence, and accuracy of the judgments reached by the Intelligence Community;
- whether those judgments were properly disseminated to policy makers in the Executive Branch and Congress;
- whether any influence was brought to bear on anyone to shape their analysis to support policy objectives; and
- other issues we mutually identify in the course of the Committee's review.
Note the date and note the question of "whether those judgements were properly disseminated to policy makers in the Executive Branch and
Congress"
There are a number of recountings of how this information was presented to individuals of congress and they were not done by members of the intel community.
