BUSH CRISIS AS MORE SENIOR AIDES QUIT« Thread Started on Apr 21, 2006, 1:22am » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------20 April 2006BUSH CRISIS AS MORE SENIOR AIDES QUIT GEORGE Bush's administration was yesterday thrown into crisis by a double resignation. The US president's second press secretary Scott McClellan, 38, quit after just two and a half years in the job. Ari Fleisher resigned earlier as press secretary prior to the president's second term.And deputy chief of staff Karl Rove is giving up his policy adviser role to focus on preventing a Republican wipe-out in the November elections for Congress. Insiders say fears are growing Bush will be humiliated in the elections and become a "lame duck" president in his last two years in office. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bush ignored intelligence on Iraqi weapons, says ex-CIA officer « Thread Started on Apr 24, 2006, 1:58am » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bush ignored intelligence on Iraqi weapons, says ex-CIA officer Dan Glaister in Los AngelesMonday April 24, 2006The Guardianread source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0, ... 9,00.htmlA former leading CIA official said yesterday that the White House deliberately ignored intelligence that showed that there were no weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the war in Iraq.Tyler Drumheller, who was once the highest-ranking CIA officer in Europe, told CBS's 60 Minutes programme that the White House shifted its focus to regime change in the months before the invasion."The policy was set. The war in Iraq was coming and they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy," Mr Drumheller said.Meanwhile a leaked Pentagon document showed that Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, is pressing ahead with plans to reshape the armed forces despite recent criticism of his stewardship from several retired military officers. Plans approved last month by Mr Rumsfeld and leaked to the Washington Post revealed the increasing use of special forces and an increased role for the military in areas that have been the domain of the CIA.Mr Drumheller, who had a senior role in the run-up to the war, told 60 Minutes that the CIA provided the White House with information from Iraq's then foreign minister, Naji Sabri, who had reportedly made a deal with the US."[The source] told us that there were no active weapons of mass destruction programmes," Mr Drumheller said. He said that the then-CIA director, George Tenet, passed the information on to George Bush, Dick Cheney, the vice-president, and other senior officials, who were initially excited. But that changed, he said."The [White House] group that was dealing with preparation for the Iraq war came back and said they were no longer interested. And we said 'Well, what about the intel?' And they said 'Well, this isn't about intel anymore. This is about regime change.'"Mr Drumheller said the decision to invade Iraq would be remembered as a grave mistake. "It just sticks in my craw every time I hear them say it's an intelligence failure ... This was a policy failure ... I think, over time, people will look back on this and see this is going to be one of the great, I think, policy mistakes of all time," he said.