Posted on 07/15/2004 4:31:57 AM PDT by Lance Romance
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic candidate John Kerry , whose campaign demanded to know on Wednesday whether President Bush read a key Iraq intelligence assessment, did not read the document himself before voting to give Bush the authority to go to war, aides acknowledged.
"Along with other senators, he was briefed on the contents of the NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) by (then-CIA Director) George Tenet and other administration intelligence officials," said Kerry spokesman Phil Singer.
Kerry's campaign has challenged Bush to say whether he read the complete intelligence report before deciding to go to war, or whether he just read a one-page summary, which Democrats say gave him none of the dissenting views included in the full version.
The Kerry campaign stepped up the attack on Wednesday, sending out an e-mail with the headline, "Did anyone in the White House read the full National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq?"
In a conference call organized by the campaign, Senate Intelligence Committee Democrat Richard Durbin said Bush should have read the 90-page report issued in October 2002.
Asked if Kerry read it, Durbin responded, "I don't know."
Singer said the issue was not whether Kerry read the intelligence assessment himself, but why the White House had refused to release the one-page presidential summary.
"The bigger question is why ... the president -- the commander-in-chief, who decided when and how to take us to war -- won't share this document with the Congress," Singer said.
The National Intelligence Estimate concluded Iraq possessed chemical and biological weapons but noted dissent from the State Department's intelligence service and other agencies.
The Bush campaign has accused Kerry of "flip-flopping" on the war.
The Massachusetts senator, who voted for the congressional resolution authorizing Bush to use force in Iraq, has since charged the president rushed to war without adequate international help or a plan to win the peace.
At campaign stops in Minnesota and Wisconsin, Bush attacked Kerry for expressing pride in having voted against an $87 billion funding bill for Iraq.
Durbin criticized the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate. He said it was prepared in just three weeks instead of the customary six months.
"It was done in a hurry so that the vote would take place in October before the invasion of Iraq. And now we know that there were many aspects of that National Intelligence Estimate which were inaccurate," Durbin said.
What a marroon.
In a conference call organized by the campaign, Senate Intelligence Committee Democrat Richard Durbin said Bush should have read the 90-page report issued in October 2002.
Asked if Kerry read it, Durbin responded, "I don't know."
Nice job Durbin. Tereza is going to take away your allowance.
They call him, "FLIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPER, FLIPPPPPPPPPPPER, nimrod of the Senate, no one can be, as stupid as he....."
They call him, "FLIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPER, FLIPPPPPPPPPPPER, nimrod of the Senate, no one can be, as stupid as he....."
Sean Hannity had the best line the other day. He pointed out the hypocisy of John Kerry, then said something like he couldn't believe that even 10 people in the whole country would vote for Kerry.
I didn't read it before I didn't read it.
What's to read? 3000 graves tells you all you need to know.
Well it seems to me that the folks have "challenged" Kerry on lots of things that he won't answer to:
1. Wife's taxes
2. Tape of NY hatefest
3. Military records
4. Medical records
Just to name a few.
Or perhaps this is another sad case of Why Johnny Can't Read.
All I can say is: UNFRICKINGBELIEVEABLE!
Slip & Fall on Flip Flops or just having a bad hair day?
Perfectly normal for this to happen in DC.....there is not one Senator or Congressman who reads everything in a bill before signing it
The surprise here is that AP carried this.
How could anyone who has a manservant to make his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches be bothered with such trivia?
Somebody's head's gonna roll on this - how can you attack someone else for something you did?
Sure, his aides said he got briefings as well (and face it, no one reads entire reports in government - that's why they make exec summaries), but Bush got more and better briefings from Tenet, so the whole link of attack is bogus.
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