Report: Bush Marginalized Intel Board

[deadparrot]

WASHINGTON, April 3 (UPI) -- U.S. President George W. Bush reportedly waited until two years into his first term to appoint members to the Intelligence Oversight Board.

The appointments came after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

First set up by President Gerald Ford, the board has been used by every president since to flag possible wrongdoing in the intelligence community, providing an additional layer of review above in-house watchdogs in such agencies as the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency.

The advisory board operates under an executive order that calls for up to 16 members drawn from "outside government who are qualified on the basis of experience, achievement and independence," the Chicago Tribune reported.

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_21212923.shtml

[SpiralHawk]

1. George Bush + AWOL

He is never there when America needs service or leadership.

AWOL

[rodeodance]

2. what next!

[Inland]

3. front page Over the fold Headline in Chicago Tribune,

a republican organ if there ever was one.

[young_at_heart]

4. He does not want to be scrutinized

Secrecy is the name of the game for Bush.....Americans simply do not need to know what he's up to.

[keopeli]

5. Whose idea was it NOT to appoint an Intelligence Oversight Board for Bush?

It doesn't surprise me that Bush waited 2 years to appoint his Presidential Intelligence Oversight Board, established by Ford and used ever since to flag wrongdoings in the intelligence community.

Given the choice, what would you surmise?

A) Bush failed to appoint the IOB deliberately in an successful attempt to undermine the US Intelligence Services.

B) Bush failed to appoint the IOB because he was so busy and distracted by the many problems that he faced, even before Sept 11.

C) Bush never really appointed anyone. He outsourced that job to PNAC, as he does with all potential military decisions.

Answer: C

link

[donkeyotay]

14. Candidate bush proudly announced that Vulcans would do his thinking

for him. I'm sure that an oversight committee "to flag wrongdoings in the intelligence community" wouldn't have been of much importance to an administration committed to war and trying to find a way to commit the American people.

[hang a left]

6. MIHOP nt

[magellan]

7. Yep, couldn't have a pesky intelligence advisory board around

...to point out there was no intelligence failure.

[Zorra]

10. Huh. Notice the article said, "the appointments came after Sept. 11"?

Well, if chimpy waited two years to appoint the Oversight Board, like the article says, that would mean that he did not appoint the Board until January of 2003. Long after any Oversight Board could discover anything real about what happened in the intell community prior to 9/11.

And the people that he later did appoint couldn't tell the difference between an intelligence failure and a duck fart.

[Mithras61]

12. They would also have been appointed too late..

(January 2003) to do anything about the faked up intel on Iraqi WMDs before the invasion...

[rodeodance]

8. by UPI Wire--good, maybe this will get some good coverage.

Report: Bush Marginalized Intel Board
by UPI Wire
Apr 3, 2006

[Canuckistanian]

9. What, exactly, have they been doing lately?

I haven't heard word one from them about the subject that they exist for.

Have they issued any statements? Made any studies? Interviewed any of the players?

Seems to me that an Intelligence Oversight Board would be working overtime ever since Tenet took all the blame for "bad intelligence".

[brentspeak]

11. The self-proclaimed "anti-terrorism" President

While National Insecurity Advisor Condi was busy assembling a report on the dangers the U.S. faces from an imaginary Cuban attack, and Oil Can Cheney was being wined-and-dined by Enron execs when he was supposed to be coordinating panels on the topic of possible terrorist attacks, the 9/11 hijackers were preparing for their attacks and watching evening news footage of Bush down in Texas sleeping on a hammock for thirty days.

[donkeyotay]

15. And Asscroft, who later proved so efficient at color-coded terra alerts

was worried about pot, death with dignity laws in Oregon, and statues with tits. They might as well been whistling on the street corner with their hands in their pockets. No one could of imagined... well, except maybe the people running around with their hair on fire.

The stock market was getting ready to tank.
Bush's approval rating had already tanked.
The GOPerate media still had to announce Enron.
(I wonder if Kenny "I don't know that man" Lay will do time?)

[brentspeak]

16. The prosecutors should offer Ken Lay a plea deal:

Reduced sentence in exchange for information on what deals Cheney was making with Enron to allow them to swindle California.

[donkeyotay]

17. What a happy thought! But first he has to be afraid of going to jail,

and I'm not sure that he is. But it's spring and maybe the air will soon be filled with sweet singing. They could make their own chorus at this point.

[superconnected]

13. Our Failure and Thief strikes out again.

[donkeyotay]

18. The commander in chief is actually the Failure and Thief, or the FaT? nt