SocraticGadfly: There’s TWO NIEs for Iraq, Bush won’t even fully disclose the first

September 26, 2006

There’s TWO NIEs for Iraq, Bush won’t even fully disclose the first

The April National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq and the Iraq invasion/occupation increasing terrorism has become a hot-button foreign policy issue since The New York Times ran an in-depth story last week based on a leaked version of the document.

Under political pressure, President Bush finally announced he would release this NIE. But it turns out
Bush is an Indian giver. Because of “national security,” he’s only going to release sections of it. And those sections, even, won’t be released until the Guatamalan Scrubber, John Negroponte, is done with them.

But, it turns out there’s ANOTHER NIE, a newer one. However, Bush won’t call it an NIE yet, apparently so that the House and Senate intelligence committees can’t get a peak at it.

Why does this not surprise me? Bush gets the big PR for calling for release, then is an Indian giver, and flying under the radar screen as part of this as the heat dies down.

Question: Are hardcore GOPers, like Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, chair of the intelligence committee, getting sideswiped on this, or have they been in on the whole plan?

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