Josh Marshall: Kay report being suppressed by WH

[diplomats]

Check this out. Looks like the "bombshell" some of us were worried about is so bad (ie no WMDs) that the WH needs to sit on it. Marshall says Congress should pressure them to release it.

Enough already! For a week or more I and others have been getting word that the long-awaited Kay Report -- the systematic investigation into Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction programs -- might be delayed or never even issued at all.
The administration has been telling us for months that it would be released in mid-September. And now, of course, it's mid-September.
Then a couple days ago NBC's Andrea Mitchell reported that Kay's survey had come up short, but implied that a report would indeed be issued when Kay returns to Washington this week.
But this morning the Sunday Times of London is reporting that "Britain and America have decided to delay indefinitely the publication of a full report on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction after inspectors found no evidence that any such weapons exist."
Let's be honest: there's no reason for delaying or refusing to issue this report, save for domestic political concerns in the US and Britain. None.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com
Here's the bottom line: the only reason for supressing the Kay Report is to game and stymie the political debate within the United States. That's unacceptable. Congress should demand the release of Kay's report -- even if redacted in some form. No more game playing. Let the chips fall where they may.

[baby_bear]

1. It's not just a Bush credibility issue; Blair doesn't want this either

They are probably conspiring to not let the report go public while Blair is under such close scrutiny.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/kelly/story/0,13747,1041828,00.html
<snip>

Dramatic new evidence from the intelligence services casts fresh doubts over Tony Blair's central claim that Iraq continued to produce chemical and biological weapons until the outbreak of war, The Observer can reveal.

Newly disclosed Cabinet Office documents show that the Prime Minister's categorical assertion was based only on a single source and was attacked as 'too strong' by a senior intelligence official. The same official attacks the dossier's descriptions of the graphic effects of mustard gas and VX, a nerve agent, as 'grossly misleading'.
...
The documents obtained by the Observer will fuel debate on whether experts' concerns were suppressed in the rush to publish the September dossier on Iraqi weapons, which strengthened the case for war.
...
They criticised the section on chemical and biological weapons, saying that the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) drawing up the dossier for Downing Street did not know for sure what banned agents had been produced and in what quantities, and that 'this uncertainty should have been highlighted to give a balanced view of Saddam's chemical and biological capacity'. The memos seen by The Observer show such concerns were echoed far more bluntly behind the scenes.
</snip>

There's much more to come out, via the Kay report and whatever these documents are that this article alludes to. Bush and Blair should be cooked in the same pot of boiling oil.

s_m

[wuushew]

2. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing from our p.o.v.

For months the critics of shrub have held back the full fury of criticism for fear that the smallest mispeak that contradicted the so called "Kay Report" would lead to serious egg on the faces of those who doubted the resident in theif. We also had a time table to formulate and refinine arguments, namely mid September. Is Shrub Co. saying that they could pull evidence out of thin air ANYTIME in the following months/years? This new degree of uncertainty worries me.

[karlschneider]

3. I wonder too. Cheney said today he is "sure" WMDs will "be found."

Of course most everything he said was a lie...all I know is I don't think I'd wanna play poker with him.
:grr:

[wuushew]

4. Look at the scandal over uraniumgate...

We were able to raise hell because the relevant facts and LIES were well documented, in writing, and discussed in public. Now we have nothing.

Liberals and rational people of intelligence win arguments based on facts. I want the truth dammit!