Traveling with President Bush on his trip to Africa, U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told reporters Friday that the CIA had seen the speech in advance.While an Associated Press article at the San Francisco Chronicle website from July 11, 2003 said:
"The CIA cleared the speech. The CIA cleared the speech in its entirety," Rice said, en route to Uganda.
"If the CIA -- the director of central intelligence -- had said, 'Take this out of the speech,' it would have been gone," Rice said.
Bush's national security adviser specifically said the CIA had vetted the speech. If CIA Director George Tenet had any misgivings about that sentence in the president's speech, "he did not make them known" to Bush or his staff, said Condoleezza Rice.Back to the CNN.com article:
Rice's and Bush's statements come in the wake of comments from unnamed sources who said the president's speech writers had included the discredited line in January's State of the Union address -- even after the CIA had raised concerns about the quality of the information.From the AP article:
Rice's and Bush's statements come in the wake of comments from unnamed sources who said the president's speech writers had included the discredited line in January's State of the Union address -- even after the CIA had raised concerns about the quality of the information.And back to the CNN.com article:
Sources said Wednesday that early drafts of the speech cited American intelligence about Niger and the uranium, but intelligence officials urged the removal of the information because they did not have "high confidence" in it.Regardless of what Rice and Bush (and previously Powell) says, Democs and Repubs in DC are both more than a little curious about this situation. From the AP:
Rice said there were some changes made to the January speech, which had to do with the amount of uranium and the exact country in Africa where Iraq sought uranium.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said the inclusion of a false statement in the president's State of the Union address -- however it happened -- needs "full and thorough investigation." He called on an independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to look at the matter, as well as the larger question of the quality of the nation's intelligence.From the CNN.com article:
Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said there should be an investigation to determine how the faulty information made its way into the State of the Union speech and that whoever was responsible for it should be fired.Of course, McCain said this at a point when the USGov is without any proof of Hussein's WMD.
"Hold somebody responsible," McCain said. He added, however, that the controversy over the disputed line does not change the justification for going to war because, he said, Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. "The war was totally justified," McCain said.
Finally, from the CNN.com article again:
Republicans say that Democrats are playing politics, trying to exploit the issue in advance of the 2004 election.But... shouldn't they?
This is a legitimate campaign issue.
Read the CNN.com article.
Read the AP article at the San Francisco Chronicle website (SFGate.com).
From CNN.com:
From the Associated Press and SFGate.com/The San Francisco Chronicle:White House: CIA cleared Iraq speech
McCain: 'Hold somebody responsible'
Friday, July 11, 2003 Posted: 12:22 PM EDT (1622 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House on Friday pointedly cited the CIA's role in clearing President Bush's State of the Union address, amid growing questions over the administration's prewar claims about Iraq.
That speech included a since-retracted statement about Iraq's alleged attempts to buy uranium, a line that was used as the administration tried to build support for military action against Saddam Hussein.
Traveling with President Bush on his trip to Africa, U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told reporters Friday that the CIA had seen the speech in advance.
"The CIA cleared the speech. The CIA cleared the speech in its entirety," Rice said, en route to Uganda.
"If the CIA -- the director of central intelligence -- had said, 'Take this out of the speech,' it would have been gone," Rice said.
Bush made similar comments during a news conference in Uganda, the fourth stop in his five-nation African tour. (Full story)
"I gave a speech to the nation that was cleared by the intelligence services and it was a speech that detailed to the American people the dangers posed by the Saddam Hussein regime. And my government took the appropriate response to those dangers. And as a result, the world is going to be more secure, and more peaceful," Bush said.
Rice's and Bush's statements come in the wake of comments from unnamed sources who said the president's speech writers had included the discredited line in January's State of the Union address -- even after the CIA had raised concerns about the quality of the information.
In that speech, Bush cited British intelligence, saying Iraq had been trying to purchase uranium from Africa and suggesting that Saddam Hussein's regime was attempting to restart a nuclear weapons program in violation of U.N. resolutions. The president gave his speech as he was trying to rally support for the invasion of Iraq.
Sources said Wednesday that early drafts of the speech cited American intelligence about Niger and the uranium, but intelligence officials urged the removal of the information because they did not have "high confidence" in it.
Rice said there were some changes made to the January speech, which had to do with the amount of uranium and the exact country in Africa where Iraq sought uranium.
"The president did not knowingly say anything that we knew to be false. ... We wouldn't put anything ... knowingly in the speech that was false."
Asked if the flap over U.S. intelligence means that CIA Director George Tenet's job is in jeopardy, Sen. Orrin Hatch, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he didn't think so.
"It's embarrassing, but no more so than a lot of other mistakes in foreign policy," Hatch, R-Utah, told CNN. "Intelligence is not an exact science."
Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said there should be an investigation to determine how the faulty information made its way into the State of the Union speech and that whoever was responsible for it should be fired.
"Hold somebody responsible," McCain said. He added, however, that the controversy over the disputed line does not change the justification for going to war because, he said, Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. "The war was totally justified," McCain said.
A number of Democrats, including presidential contenders Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Howard Dean, have called for an independent investigation, questioning whether the Bush administration overstated the threat posed by Iraq's weapons programs during the debate over war.
"This is not a matter of politics. This is a matter of national security," Kerry said Thursday. "When we go to other countries and say we have evidence of X or Y or Z, it is important that they believe us. And when we go to the American people and ask them to support some effort in the future, it is more than important that they believe us."
"We need to find out what the president knew and when he knew it," Dean said Friday on the CBS "Early Show."
Republicans say that Democrats are playing politics, trying to exploit the issue in advance of the 2004 election.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said the matter was being blown out of proportion.
Powell, who is also traveling with Bush in Africa, said there was never any "attempt on the part of the president or anyone else in the administration to mislead or deceive the American people."
"We now have to focus on the future," he said, "and that is to build a better Iraq for the Iraqi people and help them put in place a representative form of government that will make sure that there are never any more weapons of mass destruction, and that it's a country that will live in peace with its neighbors." (CNN Access: Powell on "Larry King Live")
Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Illinois, told CBS that if the White House deliberately misled the American people, "someone at the White House has to be dismissed, and I believe that we have to have a full explanation for the American people."
Asked if he thinks the issue deserves to be probed, he suggested that he does. "Well, consider what's at stake here," Durbin said. "It's the credibility of the White House on issues of gravest importance involving national security."
CNN Congressional Correspondent Jonathan Karl and Congressional Producer Steve Turnham contributed to this report.
Bush and Rice say CIA cleared Bush's State of the Union speech
TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer
(07-11) 09:22 PDT ENTEBBE, Uganda (AP) --
President Bush said Friday that intelligence services cleared his State of the Union speech, which included a now-discredited allegation that Iraq was seeking to buy nuclear material from Africa.
Bush's national security adviser specifically said the CIA had vetted the speech. If CIA Director George Tenet had any misgivings about that sentence in the president's speech, "he did not make them known" to Bush or his staff, said Condoleezza Rice.
The issue arose a day after other senior U.S. officials said that before and after Bush's Jan. 28 speech, American intelligence officials expressed doubts about a British intelligence report the president cited to back up his allegations.
Those doubts were relayed to British officials before they made them public, and were passed to people at several agencies of the U.S. government before Bush gave his nationally broadcast speech. The White House this week admitted the charge about Iraq seeking uranium should not have appeared in his speech.
Bush, asked during a meeting with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni here how erroneous material had ended up in the address, said, "I gave a speech to the nation that was cleared by the intelligence services." He did not answer when pressed again on how it wound up in his speech.
But he reiterated his belief that he made the right decision in invading Iraq and asserted that the world is a more peaceful place for it.
Rice said "the CIA cleared the speech in its entirety."
The agency raised only one objection to the sentence involving an allegation that Iraq was trying to obtain "yellow cake" uranium, she said. Yellow cake is a slightly processed form of uranium ore the color and consistency of yellow corn meal.
"Some specifics about amount and place were taken out," Rice added.
"With the changes in that sentence, the speech was cleared," she said. "The agency did not say they wanted that sentence (on uranium) out."
Rice made the defense of the White House in a rare 50-minute meeting with reporters aboard the president's plane as Bush flew from South Africa to Uganda. Questions about the allegations in Bush's January speech have shadowed him on his five-day trip through Africa.
Rice talked with Tenet by phone shortly before meeting with reporters to tell him what she planned to say, said several administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
These officials also said that Tenet was sent a final version of the speech before Bush delivered it.
Also Friday, Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said the inclusion of a false statement in the president's State of the Union address -- however it happened -- needs "full and thorough investigation." He called on an independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to look at the matter, as well as the larger question of the quality of the nation's intelligence.
"We cannot and should not play fast and loose with our intelligence information," said Lieberman, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to run for president against Bush. "Quite simply, we need to know what people in the administration knew about the weakness of our uranium intelligence reports and when they knew it."
The administration is facing rising criticism on another front in postwar Iraq: increasing attacks against American soldiers there. Two were killed on Thursday.
Critics have attacked the administration's characterizations of the current outlook in Iraq, where the war's former commander, Gen. Tommy Franks, told a House panel Thursday that U.S. troops may have to remain in Iraq for four years.
The Senate on Thursday, in a 97-0 vote, called on Bush to work harder to get other countries to share the military burden in Iraq. Bush said Thursday that U.S. forces would have to "remain tough" in the face of attacks that Franks said were coming at the rate of 10 to 25 a day.
Before dawn Friday, insurgents fired two mortar rounds into the U.S. base in the troubled western city of Ramadi. Capt. Michael Calvert, public affairs officer for the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, said there were no injuries or damage to the base.
According to Rice, the CIA had mentioned the claim that Iraq was seeking to buy uranium from Africa in a classified National Intelligence Assessment made periodically to the president.
"If the CIA -- the director of central intelligence -- had said 'Take this out of the speech,' it would have been gone," Rice said. "We have a high standard for the president's speeches."
Asked whether Bush still had confidence in the intelligence agency, Rice replied, "Absolutely."
When queried on reports that the CIA expressed concern to the White House about the allegation, she suggested that Tenet should be asked directly. "I'm not blaming anyone here," Rice said.
If anyone at the CIA had doubts about the veracity of the uranium-Iraq allegation, Rice said, "those doubts were not communicated to the president."
However, she acknowledged that Secretary of State Colin Powell had reservations about the report and chose not to mention the allegations in his Iraq presentation to the U.N. Security Council a few days later.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Friday he was concerned about the reports.
"It is apparent now that one of the statements, and a very important statement made by the president in January, was not technically accurate," he said on CBS' "The Early Show."
Congress should be concerned, he said, "if the intelligence agencies come up with reliable information which is then distorted by political operatives at the White House."
On Thursday, the Senate agreed to an amendment written by Durbin that would authorize a "thorough and expeditious joint investigation" into assertions that Iraq tried to obtain uranium from Africa, and require parts of that inquiry to be made public. The amendment was offered to the State Department authorization bill, which could be approved by the Senate as early as next week.
Rice did say that the State Department's intelligence division considered the uranium-purchasing allegations dubious, and this was also noted in a footnote in an intelligence assessment given to Bush.
Powell, however, did not discuss his misgivings with her or anyone on her staff between the time of the State of the Union address and Powell's presentation to the United Nations, she said.
©2003 Associated Press
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