CIA was upset by Pentagon's pre-war views
Doubts about Iraq-al-Qaida link recounted for Senate panel
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/iraq/bal-t...ationworld-headlines
Original Post
To begin with the reason Cheney set up this special team was to control the information and get the results he wanted. All presidents had previously depended on the CIA and intelligence agencies to supply the accurate information.
Actually when Gates was Deputy Director of the CIA he was known to slant findings to bolster William Casey and Reagan's views that the Soviet Union was a viable threat and supported a US military build up. Of course the analyses was all wrong as the Soviet Union collapsed under it's own weight of corruption and patronage, same weights that are dragging down our government.
There was no evidence that Saddam had restarted his Nuclear weapons programs, or chemical and biological programs either. One of the reasons the UN inspectors couldn't find one. There were none. The war had been planned since the first Gulf War and the sanctions were to "soften up" the country for the invasion. Former US marine and UN weapons inspector, Scott Ritter, wrote that the inspectors were more interested in spying, and were caught spying by Iraqi officials, then in looking for any WMD. They had some kind of monitoring devices that were giving US aircraft coordinates for bombing raids and anti aircraft positions and things along that nature.
They were also trying to infiltrate, recruit and co-op Iraqi military personal.
Amy Goodman had ex intelligence officer Ray McGovern and Melvin Goodman explaining what Cheney was doing as he was doing it. He and his special team were forcing out experienced intelligence officers who refused to go along with the lies.
Cheney would show up at meetings and pressure annalists to come to the conclusions he sought. An unprecedented act by any administration much less a vice president.
Seymour Hersh also wrote how this team was "cherry picking" information and would "Stove Pipe" it passed regular review channels right to Cheney. Every single lie was exposed by the alternative press as it left Cheney's, Rice, Rumsfeld, Powell, and Bush's lips yet the corporate media parroted the lies and ignored the facts. They never questioned any of them and never held them accountable.
Bush should have been "shamed" out of office and never even run in 2004. Instead the corporate media filled the air waves and print with unsubstantiated "Swift Boat" lies, which today are not even considered true, except by a few "die hard" right wingers."
The idea that there was a connection between Saddam and bin Laden was aslo reiduclus. Anyone who follows the region knows the Ba'th party, in Iraq and Syria, though enemies themselves, have a common trait in their intolerance of religous extremists, who are trying to overthrow them. Saddam did OK a couple of secret meetings with al Qaeda representatives but the operatives have since explained he was trying to infiltrate the group. I believe he did allow Zarquawi to enter a hospital at one time in Bhagdad.
There were tow al Qaeda camps in the northern Kurdish territory, both under the protection of the US/British "no fly zone."
The Mohammed Atta meeting in Prague was denied at the time by the Czech government and doubted by intelligence agencies.
Actually when Gates was Deputy Director of the CIA he was known to slant findings to bolster William Casey and Reagan's views that the Soviet Union was a viable threat and supported a US military build up. Of course the analyses was all wrong as the Soviet Union collapsed under it's own weight of corruption and patronage, same weights that are dragging down our government.
There was no evidence that Saddam had restarted his Nuclear weapons programs, or chemical and biological programs either. One of the reasons the UN inspectors couldn't find one. There were none. The war had been planned since the first Gulf War and the sanctions were to "soften up" the country for the invasion. Former US marine and UN weapons inspector, Scott Ritter, wrote that the inspectors were more interested in spying, and were caught spying by Iraqi officials, then in looking for any WMD. They had some kind of monitoring devices that were giving US aircraft coordinates for bombing raids and anti aircraft positions and things along that nature.
They were also trying to infiltrate, recruit and co-op Iraqi military personal.
Amy Goodman had ex intelligence officer Ray McGovern and Melvin Goodman explaining what Cheney was doing as he was doing it. He and his special team were forcing out experienced intelligence officers who refused to go along with the lies.
Cheney would show up at meetings and pressure annalists to come to the conclusions he sought. An unprecedented act by any administration much less a vice president.
Seymour Hersh also wrote how this team was "cherry picking" information and would "Stove Pipe" it passed regular review channels right to Cheney. Every single lie was exposed by the alternative press as it left Cheney's, Rice, Rumsfeld, Powell, and Bush's lips yet the corporate media parroted the lies and ignored the facts. They never questioned any of them and never held them accountable.
Bush should have been "shamed" out of office and never even run in 2004. Instead the corporate media filled the air waves and print with unsubstantiated "Swift Boat" lies, which today are not even considered true, except by a few "die hard" right wingers."
The idea that there was a connection between Saddam and bin Laden was aslo reiduclus. Anyone who follows the region knows the Ba'th party, in Iraq and Syria, though enemies themselves, have a common trait in their intolerance of religous extremists, who are trying to overthrow them. Saddam did OK a couple of secret meetings with al Qaeda representatives but the operatives have since explained he was trying to infiltrate the group. I believe he did allow Zarquawi to enter a hospital at one time in Bhagdad.
There were tow al Qaeda camps in the northern Kurdish territory, both under the protection of the US/British "no fly zone."
The Mohammed Atta meeting in Prague was denied at the time by the Czech government and doubted by intelligence agencies.