Sen. Roberts leaked info in 2003 that impaired efforts to capture Saddam

[Roland99]

Is There A Double Standard On Leak Probes?

By Murray Waas, National Journal
http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/0425nj1.htm

When the CIA announced on Friday that it had fired an employee who the agency claims "knowingly and willfully shared classified intelligence" with a newspaper reporter, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, immediately praised the agency's action, saying that "unauthorized disclosures of classified information can significantly harm our ability to protect the American people."

Roberts, one of the staunchest defenders of the Bush administration's effort to stop the flow of sensitive information to the press, said in a statement that "hose who leak classified information not only risk the disclosure of intelligence sources and methods, but also expose the brave men and women of the intelligence community to greater danger. Clearly, those guilty of improperly disclosing classified information should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

But three years ago on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, Roberts himself was involved in disclosing sensitive intelligence information that, according to four former senior intelligence officers, impaired efforts to capture Saddam Hussein and potentially threatened the lives of Iraqis who were spying for the United States.

On March 20, 2003, at the onset of military hostilities between U.S. and Iraqi forces, Roberts said in a speech to the National Newspaper Association that he had "been in touch with our intelligence community" and that the CIA had informed President Bush and the National Security Council "of intelligence information from what we call human intelligence that indicated the location of Saddam Hussein and his leadership in a bunker in the suburbs of Baghdad."

Guess it all depends on who is doing the leaking and for what political purposes that information is leaked. Wonder if those spies and those efforts were the DB/Rockstars.

[stepnw1f]

1. Holyshit! The Implications of a Conspiracy?

These fuckers HAVE TO BE TRIED.

[Roland99]

2. And Roberts is personally obstructing Phase II of the investigation into

Iraq intel from being performed!

[stepnw1f]

3. YUP...

OOOOh things are getting a bit more exciting. Marshmallows?

[Sydnie]

4. Yeah ... didn't he promise LAST YEAR that phase two would begin

"in thirty days" ...

someone needs to send that asshat a calendar!

[Roland99]

5. He said the report was underway and nearly completed.

6 months later....

[Roland99]

6. Interview of Roberts from Nov. 2003....

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,102275,00.html

SEN. PAT ROBERTS,R-Kan., SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Well, basically, I sort of considered it a slap in the face, Sean. I bent over backwards to try to work with my Democratic friends and colleagues, because on the Intelligence Committee, we have to act in a bipartisan way.

We're the ones that have the oversight responsibility on the nation's intelligence and how it applies to our national security. And right now, we are very close to finishing an inquiry in regards to the credibility and timing of the intelligence prior to the war.

Other quotes of Roberts'

http://thinkprogress.org/roberts-coverup/

July 2004: Roberts Called Phase II A ‘Priority.’ “It is a priority. I made my commitment and it will get done.”

Roberts Claimed Phase II Was ‘Ongoing,’ But Would Not Be Released Before Election. Roberts said that Phase II was “ongoing right now,” but it would be impossible to finish the report before the November election. “I don’t know if we can get it done before the election,” Roberts said. “It is more important to get it right. Understand, too, that it is going to an independent commission after we get our work done. So we haven’t heard the end of this by any means.”

March 2005: Roberts Said Phase II Too Difficult, Placed On ‘Back-Burner.’ “ got to be a problem in regard to a subjective point of view. If you ask any member of the administration, ‘Why did you make that declarative statement?’ … basically, the bottom line is, they believed the intelligence and the intelligence was wrong. In addition, we were in an even-numbered year and you know what that means. So…we sort of came to a crossroads and that is basically on the back burner.”

Roberts Called Phase II ‘A Monumental Waste Of Time.’ Roberts blew off the second phase of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on Iraq prewar intelligence, claiming the Silberman-Robb Commission covered the same ground as Phase II: “I don’t think there should be any doubt that we have now heard it all regarding prewar intelligence. I think that it would be a monumental waste of time to replow this ground any further.” But the Silberman-Robb Commission never investigated Phase II’s main charge - how policymakers used prewar intelligence.

...

Roberts Promised To Finish Phase II. “We have several working drafts that we will get to members as of this week that we have been working on for a considerable amount of time. We’ve been working on that. We will finish it. We had it scheduled for this week. There was no need for the Senate to all of a sudden pop in to an executive session or a closed session and then demand action when we were going to do it anyway.”

Roberts is an ENEMY of DEMOCRACY!