The Iraq Assessment You Don’t Get to See
Political Radar:
Coincidental to the very public testimony tomorrow by Army General David Petraeus and US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, lawmakers with security clearance on Capitol Hill also got another, very secret assessment of Iraq last week — this one a National Intelligence Estimate prepared by the US intelligence community.
And while the testimony of Petraeus and Crocker is sure to be grist for news on Iraq for some time, don’t look for the Intelligence Committee assessment in the public anytime soon. Despite pleas last week from Democratic lawmakers that an unclassified summary of the classified document be released this week to go along with the Petraeus/Crocker testimony, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, decided… well, we don’t know what he decided, because his reasoning for keeping the NIE secret is secret.
The lawmakers who asked for an unclassified version of the NIE for public consumption — Armed Services Chairman Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich, and Teddy Kennedy, D-Mass, - issued a statement today which complained there is no reason an unclassified version should be released and complaining about the “For Official Use Only” marker on McConnell’s letter to them denying the request for the NIE to be released.
The Senators take the “official use” marker to mean they can’t release the letter from McConnell and they’re a little miffed at the clampdown.
“It is incomprehensible that the reply sent to us is labeled ‘For Official Use Only,’ thus not even permitting the public to see the reasons given for hiding this information from public view,” Kennedy and Levin wrote in a statement this afternoon.
McConnell said recently during a speech in Baltimore that releasing even an unclassified version of the NIE would show the hand of the US to potential enemies.
“At minimum I’m telling a foreign power what I know about him.” he said, which could lead the foreign power to switch up, do things differently, and make things difficult for the intelligence community.
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Levin and Kennedy are two of the sorriest traitors on Capital Hill. If those two bitches really cared about this country, they would have acted differently. But these two ratfinks could care less about National Security let alone the troops in harm’s way.
April 8th, 2008 at 3:43 pmAh, fuck that, Teddy and Carl … Just have TPTB give us the “codes” for the fucking nukes … okay?
Gee-zuss! Where the hell is the “Kennedy Legacy” when you need it, and how the hell did this bastard [miss out]?
I know … I know … He could swim …
April 8th, 2008 at 5:05 pmI think it’s clear that most of the Dem “leaders” will sell this country out to hold onto power. Power is all they care about. If it’s politically expedient to sell us all down the river, they’ll do it in a heartbeat if it means reelection. Just look at Billary and Obama telling everyone what they think they want to hear: are Americans really that dumb? If we wish real hard, Iranian nukes will go away. If we just leave Iraq, it will be fine on its own. If we put in a “Windfall Profits Tax,” that will teach the oil companies to produce more oil. It’s like I’m in kindergarten listening to these guys.
April 8th, 2008 at 8:07 pmWhen was the last time a Kennedy served in the armed forces and went to war?
April 8th, 2008 at 9:38 pm