Ex-judge on Iraq inquiry 'involved in cover-up'

[kskiska]

Laurence Silberman, a retired judge nominated by the Bush administration as the co-chairman of the commission investigating pre-war intelligence on Iraq, was involved in a major cover-up during the Reagan era, his critics alleged yesterday.

Mr Silberman sat on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, which approved the expanded surveillance powers for the justice department under the controversial Patriot Act.

President Bush named him as the senior Republican on a nine-member bipartisan commission examining how and why US intelligence had been so wrong about Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction. It will report next spring - well after the November elections.

(snip)

Judge Silberman is most notorious in American liberal circles for his 1990 judgment overturning the conviction of Colonel Oliver North, who admitted his central role in the Iran-Contra affair, in which proceeds from secret arms sales to Iran were diverted illegally to the Contra anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua.

more…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1144586,00.html

[einniv]

1. What a complete joke

[UpInArms]

2. the options

for the end of your sentence:

this (fill in the blank here)

administration is
the republican party is
the investigation of "intelligence" is
these people are
our country has become
our government is

[ex_jew]

3. Do you think when the commission finds that the intelligence was

actually pretty good (no imminent threat reported etc.) that we'll need a NEW commission to figure out why we thought the intelligence was bad ?
It only makes sense.

[UpInArms]

9. I think that we need for

the impeachment process to begin.

The "lack of intelligence" was not through the "intelligence" branches, it was the gray matter that resides in the craniums of those occupying the seats of power.

[indepat]

11. could we add "GWB appointment is?"

[grasswire]

4. as James Carville said today...

...he's just a right-wing hack!

A hack!

[kainah]

5. A question

Where has David Brock gone? I don't think I've seen him since the publicity tour for "Blinded by the Right" ended. Does he write for anyone anymore? (He was a really good writer even when I hated what he was writing.) Where's he gone? I'd sure love to hear him expounding on Silberman's role in the Clinton witch hunts now. Does anyone know where he's gone?

[rooboy]

12. I thought I heard Randi Rhodes say...

that he had a nervous breakdown or something like it. Sure I heard it about 2-3 weeks ago.

[0rganism]

6. Sounds like he's perfect for the job!

We haaave a Winner!

[gandalf]

7. What about Kissinger?

I think he is a very able and seasoned politician, very experienced in cover-ups. After he retired from chairing the 9/11 commission, he should have some free time.

[dusty64]

8. I'm really surprised

how little coverage this farce has received. The Democrats could score some big points but they'd have to make some noise first.

[gandalf]

10. "Instead, the networks aired Dean's Iowa exclamation 633 times"

as written by the NY Times on Sunday. That is what gets coverage, even though the "scream" was a fiction ("Sawyer reported that Dean was using a special microphone that night that filters out crowd noise to heighten his voice; other videotapes taken illustrate that his ``scream'' was barely audible to his live audience.", CNN Says It Overplayed Dean's Iowa Scream, NY Times, 2/8/04)