The members of the Senate Intelligence Committee all have access to the same intelligence as the Executive branch. They voted in favor of the war.
They could have cherry picked some objections from the intelligence dossiers at the time of the vote to authorize force couldn't they? Perhaps it wasn't politically prudent to do so?
Please read the section in this doc were CIA director Tenet presents evidence about Iraq to the Senate Select Intelligence Committee:
IN FACT ZARQAWI IS PRESENT AS BEING IN IRAQ AND BEING A CLOSE ASSOCIATE OF BIN LADEN IN THIS DOCUMENT IN FEBRUARY 2003.
http://intelligence.senate.gov/0302hrg/030211/tenet.pdfHe was one of the witnesses available on:
http://intelligence.senate.gov/0302hrg/030211/witness.htmOn the site:
http://intelligence.senate.gov/Was Tenet part of this conspiracy too? The evidence presented at the time was crystal clear.
Jurisdiction of the Committee:
JURISDICTION
Created pursuant to S.Res. 400, 94th Congress: to oversee and make continuing studies of the intelligence activities and programs of the United States Government, and to submit to the Senate appropriate proposals for legislation and report to the Senate concerning such intelligence activities and programs. In carrying out this purpose, the Select Committee on Intelligence shall make every effort to assure that the appropriate departments and agencies of the United States provide informed and timely intelligence necessary for the executive and legislative branches to make sound decisions affecting the security and vital interests of the Nation. It is further the purpose of this resolution to provide vigilant legislative oversight over the intelligence activities of the United States to assure that such activities are in conformity with the Constitution and laws of the United States.
The Committee concluded AFTER we went into Iraq and after getting much better intel data AFTER having boots on the ground in Iraq that the intelligence was crappy.
Conclusions of the committee:
http://intelligence.senate.gov/conclusions.pdfThey pretty much state that the executive branch basically presented their case for the war just fine based on all the intel that they were provided at the time. However, some of the intel was ultimately found to be flawed.
They got the green light and it was given to them without deceit.
The facts simply do not support the Demagogues in our government who spin conspiracies to cover their asses that were part of the let's go to war crowd only 2 years ago.
The facts are all there. But you need to find them yourself, because the speeches that politicians give and excerpts that the news media present aren't going to do it for you. Click around with your mouse for a few hours and draw your own conclusions with the facts at your fingertips.
