CIA official: Bush admin knew no WMD in iraq in 2002

[CptStern]

the interview is from an April segment aired on 60 minutes with former chief of the CIA covert operations in Europe, Tyler Drumheller. It's not something that I didnt know before but it is further confirmation that the Bush admin knew going in that Iraq posed no threat whatsoever ..they lied to the american people: this in itself is enough to impeach bush

When no weapons of mass destruction surfaced in Iraq, President Bush insisted that all those WMD claims before the war were the result of faulty intelligence. But a former top CIA official, Tyler Drumheller — a 26-year veteran of the agency — has decided to do something CIA officials at his level almost never do: Speak out.

He tells correspondent Ed Bradley the real failure was not in the intelligence community but in the White House. He says he saw how the Bush administration, time and again, welcomed intelligence that fit the president's determination to go to war and turned a blind eye to intelligence that did not.

......


According to Drumheller, CIA Director George Tenet delivered the news about the Iraqi foreign minister at a high-level meeting at the White House, including the president, the vice president and Secretary of State Rice.

At that meeting, Drumheller says, "They were enthusiastic because they said, they were excited that we had a high-level penetration of Iraqis."

What did this high-level source tell him?

"He told us that they had no active weapons of mass destruction program," says Drumheller.

"So in the fall of 2002, before going to war, we had it on good authority from a source within Saddam's inner circle that he didn't have an active program for weapons of mass destruction?" Bradley asked.

"Yes," Drumheller replied. He says there was doubt in his mind at all.

"It directly contradicts, though, what the president and his staff were telling us," Bradley remarked.

"The policy was set," Drumheller says. "The war in Iraq was coming. And they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy, to justify the policy."

..............


Drumheller expected the White House to ask for more information from the Iraqi foreign minister.

But he says he was taken aback by what happened. "The group that was dealing with preparation for the Iraq war came back and said they're no longer interested," Drumheller recalls. "And we said, 'Well, what about the intel?' And they said, 'Well, this isn't about intel anymore. This is about regime change.'"

watch the video

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/21/60minutes/main1527749.shtml

 

[Sulkdodds]

Imagine my surprise.

 

[VictimOfScience]

Hahaha! Yeah, big surprise. :dozey:

And it won't be a surprise when he's not impeached.

People are so naive to think that their government would tell them the truth about anything....

 

[CptStern]

yet for some odd reason he isnt at some place where they make big rocks into little rocks

 

[VictimOfScience]

yet for some odd reason he isnt at some place where they make big rocks into little rocks

This is where he'd be anyway...;(

 

[CptStern]

meh better than nothing

 

[Saketi]

no one is really bothers pal, its dead in the water news.

 

[CptStern]

yes because americans arent all that interested in righting wrongs, making their leaders accountable for their lies and raping a nation for nothing more than greed ...but what am I telling you for? ..by your own admission you're no better. Have a nice day

 

[clarky003]

What more does it take to make people realise that they have criminals in suits running their country?

 

[CptStern]

really I have no clue ..wtf is wrong with americans? Clinton lies to congress about having an affair and it's the biggest news to come out the white house since nixon ..bush admin lies their way into iraq tens of thousands of people lose their lives as a result and it's pretty much ignored in the US. I'm conviced that even if there were an absolute smoking gun it would still go mostly ignored ...there's always hope he'll sleep with an itern or show his nipple in public that might get the americans thinking about impeachment :upstare:

 

[Link]

Consider: Saddam was an evil man, who needed removing.

Also consider: We waited for hitler to invade poland before we went in. Millions died that would have lived.

 

[Tr0n]

So is many other politicans and they as well need removing, but you don't see our goverment or yours doing anything about it, now do we? (China? NK?)

Governments only do what serves them and their interests best, ether in the short, medium, or long term. Only reason why we got involved in ww2 was because our governments interests in Europe, Middle East, Pacific, and Africa was being threatened.

 

[No Limit]

Consider: Saddam was an evil man, who needed removing.

So why not just say that? Why does that excuse lying on Bush's part.

 

[Laivasse]

Consider: Saddam was an evil man, who needed removing.

What Tr0n said, not to mention the dangerous example set by simply invading another country just because you don't like the administration (since there's no universal litmus test for 'evil' afaik). It goes totally against the notion of 'crimes against peace' that came into being after WW2.

Also, and pragmatically speaking the most important point, how can you be sure that the situation the Iraqis are now in is not worse than that under Saddam? A leaked source within the British govt. recently professed the belief that a civil war is now more likely than a transition to a stable democracy.

But unfortunately Stern's right, people don't seem to care. The foreign policy of Blair and Bush has killed many hundreds of times more innocent people than the average insane murderer back home ever could, but because it happens far away, and because it's 'political', and because 'TEHY HAET R FREEDUMZ' everyone just lets it pass by. It amazes me that some people still consider Blair and Bush straight-up, trustworthy guys - people who piss on the very fundamentals of our democracy even while preaching about spreading it around the world. Somebody cryogenically freeze me and wake me up when there's a cure for dickhead.

Edit: The details of the Nigerian uranium story covered in the article, as well as a lot of other things relevant to this, also pop up in the Power of Nightmares documentary which somepeople mentioned here a while back (part 3 is particularly relevant). Anyone interested (and if there was any justice that should be everyone) should do a search on this forum or google vids, the links to the vids are around.

 

[Crushenator 500]

show his nipple in public that might get the americans thinking about impeachment :upstare:

hahaha

 

[Ome_Vince]

Clinton lies to congress about having an affair and it's the biggest news to come out the white house since nixon ..bush admin lies their way into iraq tens of thousands of people lose their lives as a result and it's pretty much ignored in the US.

That was indeed the most hilarious thing ever. Though i'm guessing its just public taste. The average joe likes gossip better than Bush's lies

Here in the Netherlands they were more interested in Pim Fortuyn's homosexuality and dark-room accusations than in what he was actually political saying.
People are just nuts with an attention span of only a few mins

 

[PvtRyan]

The horse is dead folks. In fact, where there was once a horse, there is nothing but a smoking crater remaining.

Stop beating it.

 

[Absinthe]

Consider: Saddam was an evil man, who needed removing.

Also consider: We waited for hitler to invade poland before we went in. Millions died that would have lived.

Man, if you were physically right next to me, I'd grab you by the throat and slap you like a bitch. Stacking Hitler and Saddam side by side is one of the most ****ing inane comparisons I have heard in recent years.

I find it wholly disturbing that some of you people can say "lol dead horse", flippantly dismissing the outright lies and liars that have resulted in thousands of deaths and insulted your very intelligence. It's sickening, and it causes me to entertain the idea that perhaps some countries need to dip into the shitter a bit more for a wake-up call.

 

[satch919]

While I've known this for quite some time, I think the public needs to be reminded all the time since they seem to forget it quickly. Especially since 50% of Americans still believe that we found WMD in Iraq. I wish more of the intel community would come out because the White House is laying the blame at their feet instead of taking responsiblity of this mess for themselves.