June 02, 2004
In October 2002, in the debates over the authorization of military action against Iraq, Lee introduced an amendment that would have forced the President to allow the UN inspectors in Iraq to complete their work. Lee said at the time, “Our decision today is further weighted by the fact that we are being asked to sanction a new foreign policy doctrine that gives the President the power to launch a unilateral and preemptive first strike against Iraq before we have utilized our diplomatic options. My amendment provides an option and the time to pursue it. Its goal is to give the United Nations inspections process a chance to work.” The amendment received 72 votes.
Under the influence of Tenet’s CIA intelligence, President Bush moved forward with the war against Iraq. Had the inspections process been allowed to go on, a war with Iraq, which has cost more than more than 800 American lives, thousands of Iraqi lives, as well as the lives of other nationals, would likely have been averted.
“Clearly, the CIA under Director Tenet’s direction has made a series of costly missteps, and it is clear that their intelligence on the Weapons of Mass Destruction was wrong. We had inspectors in the country, and given the time they needed to complete their work, they would have discovered what we know now. This has been a failure of leadership, which is not just limited to Mr. Tenet, but should be extended to many members of the Bush Administration.”
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Congresswoman Barbara Lee Applauds Resignation of CIA Director George Tenet
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) today welcomed the resignation of Central Intelligence Authority (CIA) Director George Tenet. Tenet has been under fire most recently for reports that the former President of the Iraqi National Congress, Ahmad Chalabi, had been given CIA national security secrets, which he then allegedly passed on to the Iranian government. More broadly, though, Tenet has taken the blame for a series of catastrophic intelligence failures, including 9/11 and erroneous claims about the presence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. According to Bob Woodward’s recent book, Plan of Attack, Tenet told President Bush that the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq represented “a slam-dunk case.”In October 2002, in the debates over the authorization of military action against Iraq, Lee introduced an amendment that would have forced the President to allow the UN inspectors in Iraq to complete their work. Lee said at the time, “Our decision today is further weighted by the fact that we are being asked to sanction a new foreign policy doctrine that gives the President the power to launch a unilateral and preemptive first strike against Iraq before we have utilized our diplomatic options. My amendment provides an option and the time to pursue it. Its goal is to give the United Nations inspections process a chance to work.” The amendment received 72 votes.
Under the influence of Tenet’s CIA intelligence, President Bush moved forward with the war against Iraq. Had the inspections process been allowed to go on, a war with Iraq, which has cost more than more than 800 American lives, thousands of Iraqi lives, as well as the lives of other nationals, would likely have been averted.
“Clearly, the CIA under Director Tenet’s direction has made a series of costly missteps, and it is clear that their intelligence on the Weapons of Mass Destruction was wrong. We had inspectors in the country, and given the time they needed to complete their work, they would have discovered what we know now. This has been a failure of leadership, which is not just limited to Mr. Tenet, but should be extended to many members of the Bush Administration.”
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