Posted on 09/26/2006 10:12:20 AM PDT by Lunatic Fringe
Edited on 09/26/2006 10:29:59 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi asked her colleagues Tuesday to close the House's doors for a highly unusual secret session to discuss a classified intelligence analysis on global terrorism.
Such a session hasn't happened in the House since July 1983, when the chamber went into a closed session to discuss the United States' support for paramilitary operations in Nicaragua.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Pelosi, D-Calif., said the secret session is necessary to allow members to better understand the intelligence community's most recent assessment on global terrorism.
She said she hoped House Republicans would recognize the need for such an internal debate on the document, some of which leaked to the news media over the weekend.
According to the media reports, the intelligence estimate "is the administration's worst nightmare. It is not a corroboration of what the president is saying. It is a contradiction of what the president is saying," she said.
Pelosi's move followed President Bush's announcement that he will declassify the key findings of the intelligence assessment, which he and his top advisers have portrayed as a broad look at trends in terrorism rather than focusing on the impact of Iraq on U.S. national security.
It wasn't immediately clear whether the Republican-controlled House would allow the Democratic effort to shift the chamber's attention to one of the most controversial political issues of the November elections: the Bush administration's policies in the war on terror and its handling of the situation in Iraq.
Pelosi's maneuver required a simple majority of the House to approve.
The National Intelligence Estimate on terrorism is the most recent analysis of the nation's top intelligence analysts who work in 16 different spy agencies. Since its disclosure, the Bush administration has been rebutting suggestions that the analysis finds the U.S. is at greater risk of attack because of the Iraq invasion.
Speaking at a Washington dinner Monday night, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said the report broadly addressed the global terrorist threat, not just the impact of Iraq. He acknowledged that U.S. analysts believe "the Iraq jihad is shaping a new generation of terrorist leaders and operatives."
But he said the war in Iraq remains important to the outcome. "Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves, and be perceived, to have failed, fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight," he said.
The House has only had five closed sessions since 1812, according to the Congressional Research Service.
In the Senate, any single member can take the chamber into closed session. As a result, the chamber has held several dozen secret sessions since 1929, including one last November called by Democrats who wanted to discuss the intelligence used by President Bush in the run-up to the Iraq war.
Pelosi surprised even most of her fellow Democrats in offering the motion. She said she was not trying to use the closed session for political purposes, but rather to discuss a serious assessment that is relevant to Iraq and U.S. national security. She wants to see the administration declassify the document — without using a selective lens.
"Quite frankly, my view is that any responsible declassification will change the course of this debate on Iraq," she said.
POTUS just shocked them. He's declassifying the document which will expose them as liars.
LOL. Panic mode. The President is declassifying the report they thought they were going to thwap him with?
Didn't they try this (do this) in the last year or so?
It's called "grandstanding" to detract from the de-classification of the NIE..........
They need to get their stories straight.
'Democrats' and 'intelligence' should never be used in the same sentence.
More of the same crapola. The polls are going in the wrong direction for the Dems and they are willing to play any concievable poltical game to halt such.
A Hail Mary play called Grandstanding.. remember 2004?
Was the NYT invited?
They just got the word GW was releasing the NIE and they are trying to shore up their attack plan since it hurts their cause and the liberal medias.
Reid did it in the senate.
Aren't the Dems for open government?
You mean the Dems don't trust the people?
Who'da thunk it!
They're just pi$$ed off because they wanted to leak selective sentences...not the whole thing so everyone can see how they're lying.
Yes, and it didn't work for them then, either...........SOP......Same Old Play..........
Agree--this is Panic Mode 101.
HAHAHAH - W has been on a roll and he's about to get on a bigger one.
You do NOT mess with him when it comes to this stuff.
They had once again misunderestimated him. He's going to declassify this report, put it all out there and show them up for the lying POS they are.
?
How about "Democrats lack intelligence"?
They are in panic mode because they misunderestimated again.
Seems there must be a stained dress in the report.
Every time a clinton wags his finger, a stained dress turns up.
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