bountyhunter
member
No, I'm not an expert... but we do have them in our government. Their job is to monitor intel from all available sources and make determinations about what's going on.
One of them came forward last night and told his story, his name was Greg Thielmann. Who is he?
"Thielmann's last job at the State Department was director of the Office of Strategic Proliferation and Military Affairs, which was responsible for analyzing the Iraqi weapons threat for Secretary Powell. He and his staff had the highest security clearances, and everything – whether it came into the CIA or the Defense Department – came through his office. "
Basically, he is the guy who assembled all the pieces and told Powell and Bush what the threat level was. he is the expert they were supposed to rely on. He said he came forward because he was tired of the administration deceiving the public about the WMD story. Bottom line, the picture is that our intelligence experts made the right calls based on the data available and Bush ignored it because it didn't support his war. That's what this guy says and that's also what Ambassador Wilson stated with regard to his findings that the document showing Iraq had attempted to buy uranium was a forgery. His finding was ignored and the claim was made in Bush's state of the union address, although they claimed the source was British so they had deniability. This WMD issue isn't a case of conflicting intel, it's case of twist around whatever you can fit into the "war" bag and throw the rest away.
From his statements:
"But Thielmann also says that he believes the decision to go to war was made first, and then the intelligence was interpreted to fit that conclusion. "
"This is one of the most disturbing parts of Secretary Powell's speech for us,†says Thielmann: Powell said: “Saddam Hussein is determined to get his hands on a nuclear bomb. He is so determined that he has made repeated covert attempts to acquire high-specification aluminum tubes from 11 different countries even after inspections resumed.â€
"Thielmann says the nuclear case was filled with half-truths. So why would the Secretary take the information that Thielmann’s intelligence bureau had developed and turn it on its head?
“I can only assume that he was doing it to loyally support the President of the United States and build the strongest possible case for arguing that there was no alternative to the use of military force,†says Thielmann. "
The complete story can be seen:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/14/60II/main577975.shtml
Here is the address of the article by Ambassador Wilson, the person sent by the administration to Niger to determine if Iraq had attempted to buy uranium:
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16794
Wilson's credentials are:
Joseph Wilson was deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad from 1988 to 1991.
He is also the man whose wife was a covert CIA operative and had her cover blown allegedly as retaliation by a white house official (investigation under way now).
One of them came forward last night and told his story, his name was Greg Thielmann. Who is he?
"Thielmann's last job at the State Department was director of the Office of Strategic Proliferation and Military Affairs, which was responsible for analyzing the Iraqi weapons threat for Secretary Powell. He and his staff had the highest security clearances, and everything – whether it came into the CIA or the Defense Department – came through his office. "
Basically, he is the guy who assembled all the pieces and told Powell and Bush what the threat level was. he is the expert they were supposed to rely on. He said he came forward because he was tired of the administration deceiving the public about the WMD story. Bottom line, the picture is that our intelligence experts made the right calls based on the data available and Bush ignored it because it didn't support his war. That's what this guy says and that's also what Ambassador Wilson stated with regard to his findings that the document showing Iraq had attempted to buy uranium was a forgery. His finding was ignored and the claim was made in Bush's state of the union address, although they claimed the source was British so they had deniability. This WMD issue isn't a case of conflicting intel, it's case of twist around whatever you can fit into the "war" bag and throw the rest away.
From his statements:
"But Thielmann also says that he believes the decision to go to war was made first, and then the intelligence was interpreted to fit that conclusion. "
"This is one of the most disturbing parts of Secretary Powell's speech for us,†says Thielmann: Powell said: “Saddam Hussein is determined to get his hands on a nuclear bomb. He is so determined that he has made repeated covert attempts to acquire high-specification aluminum tubes from 11 different countries even after inspections resumed.â€
"Thielmann says the nuclear case was filled with half-truths. So why would the Secretary take the information that Thielmann’s intelligence bureau had developed and turn it on its head?
“I can only assume that he was doing it to loyally support the President of the United States and build the strongest possible case for arguing that there was no alternative to the use of military force,†says Thielmann. "
The complete story can be seen:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/14/60II/main577975.shtml
Here is the address of the article by Ambassador Wilson, the person sent by the administration to Niger to determine if Iraq had attempted to buy uranium:
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16794
Wilson's credentials are:
Joseph Wilson was deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad from 1988 to 1991.
He is also the man whose wife was a covert CIA operative and had her cover blown allegedly as retaliation by a white house official (investigation under way now).