What the Captured Documents Show

[Mulhollanddose]

You ever notice how this picture has NEVER been shown on the big-4 media?...You would almost think the media were working for the DNC or the enemy, or both.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Mulhollanddose
You ever notice how this picture has NEVER been shown on the big-4 media?...You would almost think the media were working for the DNC or the enemy, or both.

The only value that amateur painting has is as a crying towel for Bush'ists.

[RoninLB]

Who'll Let the Docs Out?
Bush wants to release the Saddam files but his intelligence chief stalls.
by Stephen F. Hayes
03/20/2006, Volume 011, Issue 25


http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/011/945usqnx.asp

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/011/945usqnx.asp?pg=2

[Rodeo]

Yea, the admin NEVER declassifies anything for political purposes. Didn't the VP just claim the power to unilaterally declassify for himself? I know you saw it, it was on Fox.

What a joke.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by RoninLB
Who'll Let the Docs Out?
Bush wants to release the Saddam files but his intelligence chief stalls.
by Stephen F. Hayes
03/20/2006, Volume 011, Issue 25


http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/011/945usqnx.asp

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/011/945usqnx.asp?pg=2

The Weekly Standard is nothing more than an organ of neo-conservatives; being founded by Irving Kristol, and managed by his son, and frequent FauxNews commentator, William Kristol.

They advocate the use of nukes against any mid-eastern country that does not knuckle under to the Bush'ist doctrine.

[Rodeo]

For all you amatuer slueths out there. You know who you are -- the ones that know better than the US Governemnt intelligence agencies about WMD and Al Queda ties. Here's the critical passage, the one that makes the point all the delusional people out there avoid like the plague.

Intelligence officials had serious concerns about turning loose an army of amateurs on a warehouse full of raw documents that include hearsay, disinformation and forgery. Mr. Negroponte's office attached a disclaimer to the documents, only a few of which have been translated into English, saying the government did not vouch for their authenticity.

Another administration official described the political logic: "If anyone in the intelligence community thought there was valid information in those documents that supported either of those questions — W.M.D. or Al Qaeda — they would have shouted them from the rooftops."

The whole story, from today's NY TImes

March 28, 2006
Iraqi Documents Are Put on Web, and Search Is On

By SCOTT SHANE

WASHINGTON, March 27 — American intelligence agencies and presidential commissions long ago concluded that Saddam Hussein had no unconventional weapons and no substantive ties to Al Qaeda before the 2003 invasion.

But now, an unusual experiment in public access is giving anyone with a computer a chance to play intelligence analyst and second-guess the government.

Under pressure from Congressional Republicans, the director of national intelligence has begun a yearlong process of posting on the Web 48,000 boxes of Arabic-language Iraqi documents captured by American troops.

Less than two weeks into the project, and with only 600 out of possibly a million documents and video and audio files posted, some conservative bloggers are already asserting that the material undermines the official view.

On his blog last week, Ray Robison, a former Army officer from Alabama, quoted a document reporting a supposed scheme to put anthrax into American leaflets dropped in Iraq and declared: "Saddam's W.M.D. and terrorist connections all proven in one document!!!"

Not so, American intelligence officials say. "Our view is there's nothing in here that changes what we know today," said a senior intelligence official, who would discuss the program only on condition of anonymity because the director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte, directed his staff to avoid public debates over the documents. "There is no smoking gun on W.M.D., Al Qaeda, those kinds of issues."

All the documents, which are available on fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/products-docex.htm, have received at least a quick review by Arabic linguists and do not alter the government's official stance, officials say. On some tapes already released, in fact, Mr. Hussein expressed frustration that he did not have unconventional weapons.

Intelligence officials had serious concerns about turning loose an army of amateurs on a warehouse full of raw documents that include hearsay, disinformation and forgery. Mr. Negroponte's office attached a disclaimer to the documents, only a few of which have been translated into English, saying the government did not vouch for their authenticity.

Another administration official described the political logic: "If anyone in the intelligence community thought there was valid information in those documents that supported either of those questions — W.M.D. or Al Qaeda — they would have shouted them from the rooftops."

But Representative Peter Hoekstra, the Michigan Republican who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and who led the campaign to get the documents released, does not believe they have received adequate scrutiny. Mr. Hoekstra said he wanted to "unleash the power of the Net" to do translation and analysis that might take the government decades.

"People today ought to be able to have a closer look inside Saddam's regime," he said.

Mr. Hoekstra said intelligence officials had resisted posting the documents, which he overcame by appealing to President Bush and by proposing legislation to force the release.

The timing gives the documents a potent political charge. Public doubts about the war have driven Mr. Bush's approval rating to new lows. A renewed debate over Saddam Hussein's weapons and terrorist ties could raise the president's standing.

"As an historian, I'm glad to have the material out there," said John Prados, who has written books on national security, including one that accuses the administration of distorting prewar intelligence. He said the records were likely to shed new light on the Iraqi dictatorship. Some of the documents, also included in a new study by the United States military, already have caused a stir by suggesting that Russian officials passed American war plans to Mr. Hussein's government as the invasion began.

But Mr. Prados said the document release "can't be divorced from the political context."

"The administration is under fire for going to war when there was no threat — so the idea here must be to say there was a threat," he said.

That is already the assertion of a growing crowd of bloggers and translators, almost exclusively on the right. So far they have highlighted documents that refer to a meeting between Osama bin Laden and an Iraqi intelligence officer in Sudan in 1995; a plan to train Arab militants as suicide bombers; and a 1997 document discussing the use of "special ammunition," chemical weapons, against the Kurds.

But the anthrax document that intrigued Mr. Robison, the Alabama blogger, does not seem to prove much. It is a message from the Quds Army, a regional militia created by Mr. Hussein, to Iraqi military intelligence that passes on reports picked up by troops, possibly from the radio, since the information is labeled "open source" and "impaired broadcast." No anthrax was found in Iraq by American search teams.

"No offense, but the mainstream media tells people what they want them to know," said Mr. Robison, who worked in Qatar for the Iraq Survey Group, which did an exhaustive search for weapons in Iraq.

The document release may help the president, he said, but that is not the point. "It's not about politics," Mr. Robison said. "It's about the truth."

The truth about prewar Iraq has proven elusive. The February 2003 presentation Colin L. Powell, the secretary of state at the time, to the United Nations appeared to provide incontrovertible proof of Iraqi weapons, but the claims in the speech have since been discredited.

Given that track record, some intelligence analysts are horrified at exactly the idea that excites Mr. Hoekstra and the bloggers: that anyone will now be able to interpret the documents.

"There's no quality control," said Michael Scheuer, a former Central Intelligence Agency specialist on terrorism. "You'll have guys out there with a smattering of Arabic drawing all kinds of crazy conclusions. Rush Limbaugh will cherry-pick from the right, and Al Franken will cherry-pick from the left."

Conservative publications have pushed for months to have the documents made public. In November, Mr. Hoekstra and Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, asked Mr. Negroponte to post the material.

When that request stalled, Mr. Hoekstra introduced a bill on March 3 that would have forced the posting. Mr. Negroponte began the release two weeks later.

Under the program, documents are withheld only if they include information like the names of Iraqis raped by the secret police, instructions for using explosives, intelligence sources or "diplomatically sensitive" material.

In addition, the intelligence official said, known forgeries are not posted. He said the database included "a fair amount of forgeries," sold by Iraqi hustlers or concocted by Iraqis opposed to Mr. Hussein.

In previous Internet projects, volunteers have tested software, scanned chemical compounds for useful drugs and even searched radiotelescope data for signals from extraterrestrial life.

The same volunteer spirit, though with a distinct political twist, motivates the Arabic speakers who are posting English versions of the Iraqi documents.

"I'm trying to pick up documents that shed light on the political debate," said Joseph G. Shahda, 34, a Lebanese-born engineer who lives in a Boston suburb and is spending hours every evening on translations for the conservative Free Republic site. "I think we prematurely concluded there was no W.M.D. and no ties to Al Qaeda."

Mr. Shahda said he was proud he could help make the documents public. "I live in this great country, and it's a time of war," he said. "This is the least I can do."

[Rodeo]

So what do the "captured documents show?" That's fint's title for this thread, right? Nothing. They show nothing at all:

"Our view is there's nothing in here that changes what we know today ... There is no smoking gun on W.M.D., Al Qaeda, those kinds of issues."

[72doug2,2S]

This is exactly my point. Why were these released? Election year, answer the media propaganda, or to gain support for the war decision? Clearly Bush gives a maverick attitude toward public opinion. This is what sets him apart from the traditional MO “where is the wind sock blowing today?” He is a man’s man, not some mamby pamby auto gain sayer incapable of making a decision without consulting a pollster. This maverick attitude keeps him at odds within his own party, the media, and infuriates the left who feel no one can reign in the cowboy. He’s bound to cause considerable consternation. He is the President. Sounds reasonable to me. I admire him for that, I cringe at him for that, but I ultimately respect a man who has his own convictions. (You take your chances every 4 years)

So why release these docs when you have an f**k-you attitude? Why respond to the weakest party agenda and their media bandwagon? Election year? You don’t need a Bush on your side to win in November. I say you should keep your distance from him and the administration. He is not an election year asset.

I am disappointed he’s taken the media bait, he won’t change the “anybody but Bush” crowd. This is a sign of weakness and a sure way to bring down even more contempt upon the Administration. Just look at the “let’s kill dad” group on this board.

The Iraq war decision support is too little too late. We’re not fighting Iraq anymore that war was over within days. We’re fighting terrorists and at the same time supporting a fledgling democracy that will not stabilize in less than ten years, perhaps more. Both of these things we’re doing just happen to be in Iraq. The terrorists will follow us where ever we go and that is the reality. That is the war and it is not over.

[widebody911]

Originally posted by Rodeo
"If anyone in the intelligence community thought there was valid information in those documents that supported either of those questions — W.M.D. or Al Qaeda — they would have shouted them from the rooftops."

No, the socialist liberal democrat mexican media won't allow it. Nothing gets out unless it's been vetted by Al Franken and Oprah.

[Rodeo]

Damm the media! Now they are aligned with Mexico, and controlling what the intelligence community puts out! Damm them!

Just wait till the Repubs get their own network ... and Repub control of Congress and the courts. Then they will finally be able to get something done

[widebody911]

Originally posted by Rodeo
Just wait till the Repubs get their own network ...

[Tobra]

Funny thing, well not so funny really because the show has slid quite a bit, I noted while watching the Daily Show. They had a fellow who was some sort of General in the Iraqui Air Force, number 2 guy he claimed. He wrote a book, Saddam's Secrets, about his experiences. He claims personal knowledge that materials to manufacture, and some completed chemical and biological weapons were moved to Syria just before the coalition troops rolled into Iraq. He probably was not really Iraqui, I am betting Mexican, and he has been on a plane, leading to his confusion about being in the air force. He must have made all that stuff up, he does have a book to sell after all. No doubt those Right wing nut jobs on the Daily Show put him up to it to support the President's position

[Rodeo]

Originally posted by Tobra
Funny thing, well not so funny really because the show has slid quite a bit, I noted while watching the Daily Show. They had a fellow who was some sort of General in the Iraqui Air Force, number 2 guy he claimed. He wrote a book, Saddam's Secrets, about his experiences. He claims personal knowledge that materials to manufacture, and some completed chemical and biological weapons were moved to Syria just before the coalition troops rolled into Iraq. He probably was not really Iraqui, I am betting Mexican, and he has been on a plane, leading to his confusion about being in the air force. He must have made all that stuff up, he does have a book to sell after all. No doubt those Right wing nut jobs on the Daily Show put him up to it to support the President's position

Call the Pentagon! Alert the media! By golly, I think you have cracked the WMD egg!

You are one brilliant man, finding proof of WMDs when the entire US Military and intelligence communities could not.

And to think, all they had to do was turn on the TV ....

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Tobra
Funny thing, well not so funny really because the show has slid quite a bit, I noted while watching the Daily Show. They had a fellow who was some sort of General in the Iraqui Air Force, number 2 guy he claimed. He wrote a book, Saddam's Secrets, about his experiences. He claims personal knowledge that materials to manufacture, and some completed chemical and biological weapons were moved to Syria just before the coalition troops rolled into Iraq. He probably was not really Iraqui, I am betting Mexican, and he has been on a plane, leading to his confusion about being in the air force. He must have made all that stuff up, he does have a book to sell after all. No doubt those Right wing nut jobs on the Daily Show put him up to it to support the President's position

During the lead up to the illegal invasion of Iraq there were repeated stories by a man, Khidar Hamza, that the Iraqi government was within 6 months of having a nuclear weapon. This man was repeatedly identified as Saddam's Bombmaker by the FauxNews operatives; particularly Sean Hannity. Mr. Hamza even wrote a book about it. Turns out it was all a lie, he being on the payroll of Ahmad Chalabi, which means Mr. Hamza was receiving US government cash being funneled through Chalabi, Chalabi being on the payroll all through the Clinton years, and at least for a few of the early Bush years. It's no longer clear if Chalabi is still receiving government money directly, but he is involved in the current Iraqi government in some way.

I'd expect the guy you're enamored with is more of the same.

[widebody911]

Originally posted by Tobra
They had a fellow who was some sort of General in the Iraqui Air Force, number 2 guy he claimed.

Again, if this was the Real Deal (TM), then why isn't the administration shouting it from the rooftops? Why would they be relying on bloggers and stand-up comics to carry their firewood? If GWB could put this stuff to rest once and for all, just think of the important stuff he could be doing, like outlawing gay marriage and appointing college buddies to public office.

No, they don't dare make official mention of this 'proof' because they know it will be shredded like toilet paper.

Or, maybe Bush doesn't know what you know - you should call/write/email him to make sure. I'll help:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

email: comments@whitehouse.gov.
phone: 202-456-1111
snail mail:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

[72doug2,2S]

Fuax News. That's funny!

[72doug2,2S]

Why doesn't the Administration shout it? They don't give a damn what you think.

[Rodeo]

Originally posted by fastpat
During the lead up to the illegal invasion of Iraq there were repeated stories by a man, Khidar Hamza, that the Iraqi government was within 6 months of having a nuclear weapon. This man was repeatedly identified as Saddam's Bombmaker by the FauxNews operatives; particularly Sean Hannity. Mr. Hamza even wrote a book about it. Turns out it was all a lie, he being on the payroll of Ahmad Chalabi, which means Mr. Hamza was receiving US government cash being funneled through Chalabi, Chalabi being on the payroll all through the Clinton years, and at least for a few of the early Bush years. It's no longer clear if Chalabi is still receiving government money directly, but he is involved in the current Iraqi government in some way.

I'd expect the guy you're enamored with is more of the same.

Chalabi is the guy that told Bush in the Oval Office that we would be greeted by Iraqis bearing candy and flowers. Then he went back to Iraq and was not exactly embraced by his people. Then he started collaborating with Iran and the US Government raided his offices and arrested him. Now I think he's in charge of the Iraqi Oil Ministry, and has been accused of stealing tens of millions of dollars.

Can't make this stuff up.

[island911]

Originally posted by Rodeo
Call the Pentagon! Alert the media! By golly, I think you have cracked the WMD egg!

You are one brilliant man, finding proof of WMDs when the entire US Military and intelligence communities could not.

And to think, all they had to do was turn on the TV ....

Are you stupid? . . .or do you think that you are smart? -equivocating "no smoking gun" to "no evidence of...."

[Mulhollanddose]

Originally posted by 72doug2,2S
Fuax News. That's funny!

Original too...Really is Democrat-speak for "look the other way while we monopolize "news making" and "fix" the polls."