Bob Woodward: Bush Misleads On Iraq

"Information is the currency of democracy."
-- Thomas Jefferson

It is of vital importance that the American people and their representatives in Congress are given accurate information about the level of violence in Iraq.

source: Interview with Woodward comming on 60 Minutes

According to Woodward, insurgent attacks against coalition troops occur, on average, every 15 minutes, a shocking fact the administration has kept secret.

source: Bob Woodward: Bush Misleads On Iraq

Woodward says the government had kept this trend secret for years before finally declassifying the graph just three weeks ago. And Woodward accuses President Bush and the Pentagon of making false claims of progress in Iraq " claims, contradicted by facts that are being kept secret.

Graph shows dramatic rise in attacks on US and allied forces. If you missed 60 minutes you can watch it all here.

Woodward discusses his book and responds to Condi's selective amnesia ... ... listen to interview with NPR's Michelle Norris here ... apparently other people will be looking into this meeting even the 911 commission.

Update 10-03-06 Apparently Woodward uncovered something here:

source: Washington Bureau
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and former Attorney General John Ashcroft received the same CIA briefing about an imminent al-Qaida strike on an American target that was given to the White House two months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

... Was it a cover up that it did not appear in the 9-11 comission report?

Comments

Seth says

source: 40 bodies found in Iraq; 21 others dead

BAGHDAD, Iraq The bodies of 40 men who been tortured were found in the capital in a span of 24 hours, police said Thursday. Bombings and shootings killed at least 21 people in and around Baghdad, including five people who died from a car-bomb explosion near a restaurant.

Seth says

source: Quarter million Iraqis flee sectarian violence
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A quarter of a million Iraqis have fled sectarian violence and registered as refugees in the past seven months, data released on Thursday showed, amid an upsurge in attacks that has accompanied the Ramadan holy month.

Now i realize that political reporting today is partisan. These stories are not just showing up now by coincidence. But how are we to find out the true situation in Iraq? For me this just underlines how important it is for an administration to communicate truthfully with the Ameriocan people and not skew the facts to a partisan advantage. We should be able to trust our government. Unfortunately, we cannot.

Seth says

M 2006-10-03 09:04:49 4529

So does anyone have the text of the warning ...?

Sounds to me that the 9-11 commission would have the power point presentations and hopefully a recording of the secret metteing.

source: McClatchy
The three former senior intelligence officials, however, said Tenet raised the matter with the panel himself, displayed slides from the PowerPoint presentation and offered to testify on the matter in public.

Ben-Veniste confirmed to McClatchy Newspapers that Tenet outlined for the 9/11 commission the July 10 briefing to Rice in secret testimony in January 2004. He referred questions about why the commission omitted any mention of the briefing in its report to Zelikow, the report's main author. Zelikow didn't respond to e-mail and telephone queries from McClatchy Newspapers.

Seth says

source: 9/11 Panel Members Werent Told of Meeting
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 Members of the Sept. 11 commission said today that they were alarmed that they were told nothing about a White House meeting in July 2001 at which George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, is reported to have warned Condoleezza Rice, then the national security adviser, about an imminent Al Qaeda attack and failed to persuade her to take action.

Mark de LA says

seth 2006-10-01 17:27:51 4529

Sensationalism requirements can cloud the minds of a writer trying to sell a sensational book. According to Dr. Rice the meeting did not have the same kind of sensation in her mind. See this account by Condi Rice herself. Tenet was a Clinton hangover. I'm surprised he would not have mentioned the meeting to the 9/11 commission if there was any proof of such a meeting & what was discussed.

Mark de LA says

M 2006-10-02 12:26:44 4529

Woodward revealed that he had deliberately timed his new book, "State of Denial," to come out before the November elections in this article; like it has been said - an October Surprise!

Also in the article it is apparent that the Bush Lied headlines were not using Woodward's words.

source: Asked by Lauer if he is saying in the book that Bush "lied," Woodward said he wouldn't use that language.

Others with political agendas are repeating that mantra!

Seth says

M 2006-10-02 10:20:54 4529

I'm surprised he would not have mentioned the meeting to the 9/11 commission if there was any proof of such a meeting & what was discussed.

Apparently he did mention it to the commission ...

source: Washington Bureau
Former CIA Director George Tenet gave the independent Sept. 11, 2001, commission the same briefing on Jan. 28, 2004, but the commission made no mention of the warning in its 428-page final report.

Mark de LA says

source: ... I would prefer to only track facts as they emerge in this item and minimize editorialization. Emote over anticipated facts at your own risk.

...

That's just it. So far there are only assertions & very few facts if any facts at all. All of it is hearsay. There are no recordings, stenographic notes or properly routed official government documents in any of this. Woodward's book doesn't have any otherwise there would be no controversy. Anyone can write a book. Anyone can assert anything on TV.

Seth says

M 2006-10-03 09:44:03 4529

Well, a power point presentation is pure BS. Having given many, I know that what I say is more important than what is on the slide. I would want a court stenographer version of that moment with the commission. With a PPT one can say one thing & have something else on the slide. What was given in the so-called meeting with Dr. Rice & G. Tenet? Did anything get recorded of that meeting? Can it be redacted in classified?

We may well find out more evenutally ... i would think that all the testimony given to the 9-11 commission would have been recorded. Quite a bit more background in this article ...

source: NYT
Mr. Tenet is now completing work on a memoir that is scheduled to be published early next year.

I would prefer to only track facts as they emerge in this item and minimize editorialization. Emote over anticipated facts at your own risk.

Seth says
You can track the news front here. Facts have emerged. What some people say have matched the facts. Others are changing what they now say to match those facts. Obviously people will interpert the facts according to their own adgenda. Interpreting facts in hind sight can never be relied upon because of hindsight bias. Personally i don't think that Rice, Aschroft and Rumsfield can be faulted for not recoginzing the importance of this briefing .... after all they were getting many of these briefings all the time. It does, however, instill in me a desire to see the ABC movie about the run up to 9-11 updated a bit. While it is absurd to expect politicians to be unbiased ... historians, imho, should be held to a different standard.

Seth says

M 2006-10-03 10:58:45 4529

I guess I have a whole different definition of facts than you do. Unsourced newspaper article hearsay is not facts. I'm sure that you have seen court room dramas on TV enough to get what hearsay is.
How many people were in the room during the briefing ? Who were they ? What did they say exactly? Where was the meeting held, in what room of the Whitehouse? Was the president in attendance ? Who took the minutes of the meeting? Where are those minutes, if any ? If there were no minutes then why not ? Can we see them, if not - why not ? What statements were made that bear on the issue ? Exactly how were those statements made? etc. The answers to those questions would be facts in my books. Opinions & statements of persons not there & not in attendance are hearsay!

The facts are that these two briefings took place. The times the meetings took place and people present are recorded in the appropriate logs. Also in evidence is that the substance of the briefing was given to the 9-11 commission. People who were at those meetings (Tenet etc) are starting to give their impressions publically of what took place at those meetings. Those are not hearsay as they were present and can testify as to what they said.

Seth says

source: reuters: Baghdad bomb kills 14 as blasts reach peak
The attack came as the U.S. military reported that roadside bombings in Baghdad were "at an all-time high" and that more car bombs had been defused or detonated in the capital in the past week than at any other time this year.

If the administration was not in denial, they would inform the American poeple that things are getting progressively worse.

It is time for honesty. The spin is over.

Bob Woodward: Bush Misleads On Iraq

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