Posted on 04/22/2005 12:44:21 PM PDT by SmithL
WASHINGTON - A senior House Democrat who has been sharply critical of State Department reporting on terrorism is accusing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of denying Congress and the public important information about the number of incidents.
"There appears to be a pattern in the administration's approach to terrorism data: favorable facts are revealed while unfavorable facts are suppressed," Rep. Henry A. Waxman of California said in a letter to the department's acting inspector general, Cameron R. Hume.
The question is "whether political considerations played a role in Secretary Rice's decision" to hand off a State Department report to a government counterterrorism center, Waxman said. He requested an inspector general's investigation.
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said of the request, "it's a matter under consideration." The department is "committed to being responsive to Congress and to contributing to an informed public debate," he said.
Waxman's letter followed an announcement Monday that the department had decided to stop publishing its annual statistical account of terror incidents worldwide, turning the task over to a government center established last year by Congress - the National Counterterrorism Center.
Last year, the department reported a decline in significant incidents of terror in 2003 and then issued a corrected version showing an increase.
The falloff had been used by senior Bush administration officials to bolster President Bush's claim of success in countering terrorism.
Waxman said the Bush administration had "tried to take self-serving political credit" based on inaccurate information.
"The numbers were off," then-Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged, saying the problem would be fixed.
This year, the State Department again plans to make public and provide Congress by April 30 a country-by-country assessment of terrorism and will again list organizations it accuses of supporting terror.
is he the ugly one?
Can't tell, can't see beyond the nose.
Yes!!! No pictures please!!!
As long as no one seeks a probe of those nostrils...
Ewww.
favorable facts are revealed while unfavorable facts are suppressed
If they are surpressed how does he know about them?
The attack on Dr. Rice is commenced...........
Give him some rope. He'll hang himself.
You mean the stupid one, right?
waxman and hillary cute
.
LOL
Tell Waxman to check Sandy Burger's shorts if he needs additional evidence on terrorism.
I almost forgot he was in DC he has been so invisible as of late.
Henry has to propose investigations and spend his time looking under rocks since he couldn't legislate himself out of a box if he had to.
Separated at birth - Henry Waxman and Charlie Haggers.
Waxman's gotta bring this stuff up. Hell, I wish others would. There are too many people in this administration trying to put "feel good" data out there. C'mon guys, we can handle the truth. Can't we?
OK, since you seem to understand what the heck this is about, you tell me: exactly where is the problem here? Aren't Waxman et al going to get the numbers from whichever source they come from? What is he accusing Rice of doing that's wrong or underhanded?
And why is Rice being tarred and feathered with this when it was Powell's State Dept. that came up with the wrong numbers in '03?
At first glance, this appears to be a new attempt to throw garbage at Rice in the hopes something will stick.
Jeez, did Yoda and Yasser Arafat mate??????
Little nocturnal forest critters could live in his nostrils!
Makes you just want to go out and have a good meal doesn't it? ;-)
More importantly, does he ever tire of starting new investigations, 99.99999% of which yield no coherent result, needlessly consume the resources of the GAO and others, and waste our tax dollars?
Seriously, every time we trun around, this guy is asking for another investigation. What a waste.
Perhaps we should investigate why he is investigating everyone all the time.
I think I saw a couple of lemurs and a possum in there when I tilted my head just right.
These guys really have nothing. They can't go after him for missile technology to the ChiComs. For making a phony nuke deal with North Korea. For backing down in the face of terrorists. For raping women. For threatening witnesses. For literally staining the Oval Office. For perjury and suborning perjury. They've got nothing. They should just go back home and let the adults do their job.
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