Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (495939)	11/20/2003 11:25:51 AM
From: PartyTime	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

I don't understand the below CIA task. How could so many of us who contributed to SI's Don't Start the War and Stop the War threads know then what the CIA must now reexamine? Sufficient information was available just by reading international, not just American, accounts of the war and its buildup. Many of us correctly theorized that there were no WMDs in Iraq. Many contributors--including myself--thought, at most, there'd be small amounts of WMD. But we pretty much were in agreement there was nothing massive enough to violate international law and invade Iraq. Oh, well. I guess they're just still tryin' to get history right--lol! Posted 11/19/2003 11:25 PM CIA will examine raw data on Iraq By John Diamond, USA TODAY WASHINGTON — CIA Director George Tenet has ordered investigators to substantially widen their internal probe of Iraq intelligence to consider whether the agency missed telltale signs that Iraq had gotten rid of its weapons of mass destruction before the U.S.-led invasion last March. The probe, which has been conducted by a four-member team of former senior CIA analysts since early this year, was broadened this week. It will now extend into 20 volumes of raw intelligence reports, such as electronic intercepts, spy satellite photos and reports from human sources. Until now, the team had limited its work to a far smaller volume of finished intelligence reports and assessments. In a probe that parallels investigations by the House and Senate intelligence committees, the team is examining the quality of prewar intelligence that said Saddam Hussein's regime had chemical and biological weapons and a resurgent nuclear weapons program. The alleged weapons were the Bush administration's key stated reason for invading Iraq, but U.S. searchers have failed to find such weapons there since U.S. forces entered Iraq. The expanded probe was disclosed by two intelligence officials who asked not be named, and was confirmed by Richard Kerr, former CIA deputy director and head of the four-member team. Kerr said in a telephone interview Wednesday, "It's important to figure out, from an intelligence point of view, if we didn't do it well, how could we have done better." Although Kerr would like to wait until chief U.S. weapons searcher David Kay finishes his work in Iraq sometime next spring or summer, the team has already concluded that no matter how long Kay's teams look, they are unlikely to turn up the vast arsenal U.S. intelligence said was in Iraq before the war. And meanwhile, the clock is ticking on the House and Senate investigations, which are expected to be sharply critical of the CIA and could issue findings long before Kay wraps up his work. Tenet, who ordered the expanded investigation last week, also wants Kerr's team to see what he regards as an enormous volume of solid information the CIA assembled over the past decade indicating that Iraq had illegal weapons. The two intelligence officials said a key aim is to look for raw prewar reports indicating that Iraq may have, as it claimed, dismantled its weapons of mass destruction programs. The concern is that CIA analysts discounted or overlooked those reports because of an overriding assumption that Saddam was secretly hoarding an arsenal of banned weapons. usatoday.com

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (495939)	11/20/2003 7:49:29 PM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

MEDICARE REFORM: THE FRAUD THAT KEEPS ON GIVING Kenneth, Molly Ivins noted that the Medicare "reform" bill as written is a sop to big Pharma. The bill prohibits negotiations on price, and fully $160+ Billion of the $400 Billion package ends up being profits for big Pharma! This is absurd on its face. ***** And the AARP endorsement of the bill appears to be an utter fraud, perpetrated by a Gingrich clone who infiltrated the AARP and controls it now on behalf of the corporations and in direct opposition to the welfare of AARP's members. Here's a sample of this travesty in action: November 19, 2003 Dear Buzz: I have just seen the AARP ad stating that AARP is backing the Medicare plan. I proceeded to contact AARP. When I spoke to a young man about AARP backing the Medicare plan, I asked him if he could tell me how many members had called in backing the plan. He told me that he had taken 72 calls since his shift began. Out of those 72, only 1 person backed the plan. He told me the other 71 were either against the plan or had DROPPED their membership. I then told him that I felt AARP should stop airing the ads as the AARP organization is its membership and if most of the members are against this plan, then it is a misleading ad. Please call your reps and senators today. Daniel Source: buzzflash.com