Durbin Lets Cat out of Bag--Freepers are on the trail

by: hannah

Sat Apr 28, 2007 at 09:44:06 AM EDT

IS SENATOR DURBIN SAYING THAT DEMOCRAT INTEL COMMITTEE MEMBERS WILLFULLY MISLED THE PUBLIC?
The Corner ^ | 4/25/07 | [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

Posted on 04/25/2007 2:33:54 PM PDT by Dog

Via Senate Republican staff:

SAY WHAT? DID SEN. DURBIN RUN THIS PAST HIS COLLEAGUES?

DURBIN SAYS INTEL COMMITTEE MEMBERS WERE AWARE THAT IRAQ INTEL DID NOT SUPPORT THE RHETORIC IN RUN-UP TO IRAQ WAR

"I was a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and I would read the headlines in the paper in the morning and I'd watch the television newscast and I'd shake my head. ?[T]he information we had in the Intelligence Committee was not the same information being given to the American people. I couldn't believe it." (Sen. Dick Durbin, Floor Speech, 04/25/07)

"You see, in the Intelligence Committee, we're sworn to secrecy. We can't walk outside the door and say, `The statement made yesterday by the White House is in direct contradiction to classified information that's being given to this Congress.'" (Sen. Dick Durbin, Floor Speech, 04/25/07)

"And so in my frustration, I sat here on the floor of the Senate and listened to this heated debate about invading Iraq thinking the American people are being misled. They are not being told the truth." (Sen. Dick Durbin, Floor Speech, 04/25/07)

IS SENATOR DURBIN SAYING THAT DEMOCRAT INTEL COMMITTEE MEMBERS WILLFULLY MISLED THE PUBLIC?

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI): "[Saddam] has ignored the mandates of the United Nations, is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them." (Committee On Armed Services, U.S. Senate, Hearing, 09/19/02)

SEN. JOHN ROCKFELLER (D-WV): "There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons. And will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years." (Sen. John Rockefeller, Congressional Record, 10/10/02, p.S10306)

SEN. EVAN BAYH (D-IN): "Bill, I support the president's efforts to disarm Saddam Hussein. I think he was right on in his speech tonight. The lessons we learned following September 11 were that we can't wait to be attacked again, particularly when it involves weapons of mass destruction. So regrettably, Saddam has not done the right thing, which is to disarm, and we're left with no alternative but to take action." (Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor," 03/17/03)

AND THE CURRENT SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID?

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): "Saddam Hussein, in effect, has thumbed his nose at the world community. And I think that the President's approaching this in the right fashion." (CNN's "Inside Politics," 09/18/02)

04/25 04:52 PM

Now, if I'm not mistaken, the only exceptiong to being charged with treason for revealing classified information is if you're a member of Congress and speaking on the floor of the respective chamber.  Indeed, it seems to be thanks to Senator Mike Gravel that this principle was tested in U.S. v Gravel when he read the Pentagon Papers into the congressional record.

Senator Durbin's remarks are part of a long speech explaining why he wants to put restrictions on the money being requested for Iraq.

At the time of this debate, I was a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.  I would read the headlines in the paper in the morning and watch the television newscasts and shake my head because, you see, just a few hundred feet away from here, in a closed room, carefully guarded, the Intelligence Committee was meeting on a daily basis for top-secret briefings about the information we were receiving, and the information we had in the Intelligence Committee was not the same information being given to the American people.  I couldn't believe it.  Members of this administration were in active, heated debate over whether aluminum tubes really meant that the Iraqis were developing nuclear weapons.  Some in the administration were saying, of course not.  It is not the same kind of aluminum tube; at the same time, members of the administration were telling the American people to be fearful of mushroom-shaped clouds.
I was angry about it.  Frankly, I couldn't do much about it because, in the Intelligence committee, we are sworn to secrecy.  We can't walk out the door and say the statement made yesterday by the white House is in direct contradiction to classified information that is being given to this Congress.  We can't do that.  We couldn't make those statements.  So, in my frustration, I sat on the floor of the Senate and listened to this heated debate about invading Iraq thinking the American people are being misled, they are not being told the truth.  That is why I joined 22 of my colleagues in voting no.  I didn't believe at the time that the American people knew the real facts.

Since Bush had issued an executive order in October of 2001, restricting the dissemination of intelligence information to just eight members of the House and Senate (not the full committees), it's actually possible that the oral briefings to the whole committees were inaccurate.  In the Washington Times report of Durbin's comments, there's a White House response to the effect that the President had the same information as Congress.  Since we know Bush doesn't read, that's possible although, given his orders to restrict information, doubtful.

Note that they had to go back to October 2002 to get a Senator Reid comment supportive of Bush.

I do want to make the point that the web of guilt in which our Representatives have been enmeshed is truly insiduous.  Whether they keep or reveal the dirty secret of how the American people have been deceived, they are guilty.
How would you like to live with the knowledge that your silence has led to the deaths of 700,000 people and counting?