White House Aide Behind uranium claim, senator says

[DrBB]

The Durbin story, now on the home page at NYTimes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/17/international/worldspecial/17CND-INTEL.html?hp

A Democratic member of the Senate Intelligence Committee said today that a White House official insisted that claims about Iraqi attempts to purchase uranium be included in President Bush's State of the Union address, despite doubts from the Central Intelligence Agency about its credibility.

As the Senate continued to trade charges over the handling of classified information related to the war in Iraq, Senator Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, told fellow senators today that people in the White House were "bound and determined" to include the allegation in the address, despite being discouraged by George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence.

"The president has within his ranks on staff some person who was willing to spin and hype and exaggerate and cut corners on the most important speech the president delivers in any given year," Mr. Durbin said as he offered a proposal to hold up $50 million in intelligence spending until the president delivers a report on the handling of the Iraqi intelligence.
—more—

on edit: added clip

[DagmarK]

1. Okay......WHICH white house official.........

can TRUMP our great commander in thief! Can just RUN the show!

They make it sound like it's some little aid off in a corner or something. When we KNOW......it's Bush, Condi, Cheney and Rove.....all working as ONE!

[DrBB]

2. Funny how it became "WH Aide"

...when the term in the story and everywhere I've read it is "WH official." I mean, I've written headlines and there are rules, and you have to sometimes find a term that makes things fit. But not at the cost of error. And an "Aide" is a very different item than an "official."

Heard Pete Sanger on The Connection yesterday about this story. Some of what he said was ok, but a lot of the time he seemed to be going out of his way to put it just how Ari Fleischer wanted and keep the lid on.

[damnraddem]

4. Of course, 'WH Aide' makes them look more incompetent.

I only wish that the news report had said 'WH Intern.' ;-)

[Randomthought]

9. Love to see that headline

"I did not have an intelligent relationship with that woman!"

[DrBB]

10. Good point! Maybe they were trying to ADD to the WH's

problems.

"WH Janitor insisted on SOTU language"

"WH temp Clerk-typist forced CIA to alter speech"

[janx]

5. That was my first reaction too.

Which was it, an official or an "aide"?

[tinnypriv]

7. Even funnier

It uses "official" in the first paragraph!

Idiots :D

[TeeYiYi]

18. They changed the headline and forgot to change the text. . .

. . . I just doublechecked and it STILL says' aide' in the headline and 'official' in the text. I wonder how long it will take for them to change it. I think I'll go grab a screen shot before they figure it out. :7

TYY

[bluedem]

12. That settles it, then. It was junior. Everyone knows

he's nothing but an AIDE, chosen as the front man.

[damnraddem]

3. Good! Now the Dems in Congress need ot keep it up.

They should at least act as if they had spines.

[Cheswick2.0]

6. White House AID?

like who, the kid that sorts the mail? Now the kid who sorts the mail decides what is in the squater's SOTU address?

[sandnsea]

8. Good, it's at the White House

It is not going to wash that an aide stuck those words in there and Bush didn't question it. He went over and over that speech. Most certainly he ought to have known everything about Iraq and uranium, criminy he's the president.

Or maybe, he is the 'aide' they're referring to!

[grasswire]

11. what aide has that power??

WHAT AIDE HAS THAT POWER???????

[sandnsea]

17. Bush is the aide

Did that not come through in my post. We know he isn't in charge, therefore, he must be the "aide" they're talking about. It was a joke, ha ha.

[benfranklin1776]

13. May as well be since this bunch strives for onanistic groupthink.

In my opinion given that deliberate cultivation of a complete "yes person" staff the aide was simply carrying water for Dick and George i.e. reflecting what his bosses wanted. No way this pawning off of the blame to a scapegoat should end the matter.

[skip fox]

14. Tenet Testimony is leaking all over! This was given to

DU's CAPTIONers!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=27585&mesg_id=27585&page=

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=27627&mesg_id=27627&page=

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=27661&mesg_id=27661&page=

[demdave]

15. 1

1

[Fridays Child]

16. So, it's the aides who tell smirky what to say, huh?

:eyes:

[fshrink]

22. Well, since

leaving what he says to him is extremely dangerous, and since he has to say lots of things, it requires a whole lot of people to write up, and down, what he actually says...

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

19. i think aide is a typo

it's really a white house IDEA!

[lanlady]

20. fantabulous--a Deep Throat-style mystery!

I think the White House made a BIG mistake. Nothing's guaranteed to get this town buzzing more than a mysterious unidentified individual. The pundits will be speculating on this for days, which will keep the story up there front and center. And when the person IS outed (which is almost inevitable), we'll really start to have us some fun.

[seemslikeadream]

21. I think it's this guy

Robert Joseph
National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice announced today the appointment of Robert G. Joseph as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Proliferation Strategy, Counterproliferation and Homeland Defence, effective January 22,2001.
Prior to joining the National Security Council staff, Dr. Joseph served as a Professor of National Security Studies and Director of the Center for the Counterproliferation Research at the National Defense University. In the previous Bush Administration, he held the positions of US Commissioner to the Standing Consultative Commission (ABM Treaty) and Ambassador to the US Russian Consultative Commission on Nuclear Testing. In the Reagan Administration, he held several positions within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, including Principal Deputy Assistant of Defense for International Security Policy and Deputy Assisstant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy.

[Snellius]

23. Yes, definitely someone from NSC, i.e. Coldolezza Ice

I actually don't think this one was Cheney.

One way you can always tell who's to blame is who they assign to do the Sunday morning talk shows that week. It's almost like Bu**sh** is pushing them out there to the wolves, saying "Okay, you were the one who talked us into this mess, now you have to get us out." Only two Bushbots were on this week: Rummy and Ice.

On edit:
Here's list of likely subjects:
http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/nsc.htm#joseph

[Lucille]

24. MSNBC agrees wit cha

http://www.msnbc.com/news/937524.asp?0cv=CA01
--snip
Durbin said that person’s identity could not be revealed because of the confidentiality of the proceedings, but sources, who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity, said that Tenet “reluctantly” identified the official as National Security Council member Robert Joseph. Once source said that the revelation led to a series of questions about Joseph’s role.

--snip

some spook's been talking to Andrea Mitchell. D'ya suppose this has anything to do with the mysterious break-in at the Greenspan's a few months ago?

[seemslikeadream]

25. Read this quote from an interview he had with Leonard Spector

NPR
Question: Will this be a planning team that reports directly to you or will it be chaired by an interagency group of some kind?

Joseph: The idea is to have an interagency group chaired at the NSC. I read your piece in Arms Control Today in this. You said, "You have a choice, you can have high level offical do it, or you can have Bob Joseph do it"

Just a bit more

He is recognized as a leading member of the group of Republican defense strategists whose writings helped to shape the national security outlook of candidate George W. Bush. Since joining the Bush administration, Ambassador Joseph has played a key role on such issues as developing a new strategic framework with Russian and improving coordination of US counterproliferation initiatives.

[Jacobin]

26. and, uhm WHY? might I ask is the name of the lying aid/official

creating a fake claim in a speech a matter of NATIONAL SECURITY???

Doesn't this sound more like "political security"?

This secrecy crap is amazing.....I guess the returns from voters in 2004 will be secret too...just b'lieve us, smirk won.