Day: November 14, 2005

In 2001 Testimony and Statements, Bush Officials Denied That Iraq Had Weapons

Jon Ponder

Raw Story:

…As a bipartisan investigation into prewar intelligence heats up, some key Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), have unearthed unreported evidence that indicates Congress was misled. This evidence includes [former CIA Director George] Tenet’s testimony before Congress, dissenting views from the scientific community and statements made by members of the administration in early 2001.

Tenet told Congress in February 2001 that Iraq was “probably” pursuing chemical and biological weapons programs but that the CIA had no direct evidence that Iraq had actually obtained such weapons. However, such caveats as “may” and “probably” were removed from intelligence reports by key members of the Bush administration immediately after 9/11 when discussing Iraq…

In fact, more than two dozen pieces of testimony and interviews of top officials in the Bush administration, including those given by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz prior to 9-11, show that the U.S. never believed Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat to anyone other than his own people.

On “Face the Nation” in 2001, then Sec. of State Colin Powell said, “We have been able to keep weapons from going into Iraq … We have been able to keep the sanctions in place to the extent that items that might support weapons of mass destruction development have had some controls.”

Around that same time, Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld agred with Powell in a Fox News interview: “Iraq is probably not a nuclear threat at the present time.”

Within a year, these guys were singing a different tune – but these earlier statements put the lie to the White House’s current claims that “everybody” believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

FBI, DoD Use Contractor to Circumvent Intelligence Laws

Buck Banks

Getting the 411: For the past three years the FBI and Defense Department have been paying a Georgia-based company for access to databases that contain billions of personal records about nearly every person — citizens and noncitizens alike — in the U.S.

According to federal documents obtained by National Journal and Government Executive, among services ChoicePoint provides the government is access to a previously undisclosed “exclusive” data-searching system. Thus, law enforcement and intelligence agents use the private data broker to do what they legally can’t — keep tabs on nearly every American citizen and foreigner in the United States.

ChoicePoint is the largest aggregator of public records on U.S. citizens and residents. The company has a database of more than 19 billion legally obtainedrecords that it mines to locate criminals and suspects, their family members and known associates, and their hidden financial assets.

Most of ChoicePoint’s customers are other companies, but the company’s work for the government is significant and growing. Using its DNA analysis lab, ChoicePoint helped identify victims of the September 11 attacks. The following year, the company helped locate the Washington-area snipers by leading investigators to the blue Chevrolet Caprice the two killers used.

Although it has generally been known that the FBI and intelligence agencies use ChoicePoint’s people-tracking skills, federal and company officials have refused to discuss their arrangements. But a set of contract documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act that the government sought to withhold for almost two years, reveals details not previously reported about ChoicePoint’s work for the FBI’s Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force, called FTTTF or “F tre F.”
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Ralph Reed’s Email Implicates Him in Abramoff Scandals

Jon Ponder

Sleazy ‘Christian’: Former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed — he of the holier-than-thou, unctious manner and choir boy face — is up to his elbows in the scandalous doings of former GOP uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to the Associated Press:

In 2001, Abramoff was working as a lobbyist for the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana to prevent rival gaming casinos from siphoning off its Texas customers. He paid Reed as a consultant, and Reed lobbied to get the Alabama-Coushatta and Tigua casinos closed in Texas.

In the Nov. 30, 2001, e-mail, Reed told Abramoff that 50 pastors led by Ed Young, of Second Baptist Church in Houston, would meet with Cornyn to urge him to shut down the Alabama-Coushatta tribe’s casino near Livingston. He said Young would back up the request in writing.

“We have also choreographed Cornyn’s response. The AG will state that the law is clear, talk about how much he wants to avoid repetition of El Paso (where the Tigua casino was) and pledge to take swift action to enforce the law,” Reed wrote. “He will also personally hand Ed Young a letter that commits him to take action in Livingston.”

Cornyn, now a Republican U.S. senator, had filed a lawsuit in 1999 to shut down the casino operated by the Tigua tribe in El Paso, saying it violated the state’s limited gambling laws. In 2002, federal courts shuttered the Tiguas’ casino and Cornyn used that ruling to shut down the Alabama-Coushattas’ casino.

Cornyn, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, has denied knowing Abramoff. He also has said he was unaware of Reed’s work with Abramoff.

Even Conservatives Offended by Dennis Miller’s ‘Comedy’ Act

Jon Ponder

Nobody’s laughing: A few years back, when progressive political activist Arianna Huffington was asked about the fact that she had once been a Gingrichite Republican, she would often respond, “When I was a Republican, Dennis Miller was still a liberal and still funny.”

Last week, Miller was the keynote speaker in Boca Raton, Florida, for the annual meeting of the the Securities Industry Association, which is the financial industry’s top professional organization, where he managed to offend quite a few fiscal conservatives:

Comic Dennis Miller managed to offend more than a few of the country’s financial elite Wednesday night at one of Wall Street’s most prestigious gatherings.

In a performance littered with expletives, the conservative political humorist ran down a list of raunchy jokes on his usual topics from Viagra to former President Clinton’s sex life.

Despite explosions of laughter from most of the audience, several attendees left steak and potatoes half-eaten on their plate and took off outraged…

“One woman at my table just got up in the middle of dinner and said ‘I’m offended’ and walked out,” said one investment guru at the meeting.