I’m speechless. Dazed.
Can we fire somebody for this? Anybody? How about everybody? Yeah, that’s it. Fire everybody.
You’re all fired.
And I’m fired too.
At least the Senate Select Committe on intelligence is already looking into this:
CHAIRMAN ROBERTS AND VICE CHAIRMAN ROCKEFELLER ISSUE STATEMENT ON INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE’S REVIEW OF PRE WAR INTELLIGENCE IN IRAQ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - February 12, 2004
CONTACT: Sarah Ross (202) 224-4774 or Bill Duhnke (202) 224-1700
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), Chairman, and Senator Jay Rockefeller IV (D-WV), Vice Chairman, of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, today announced that the Committee unanimously agreed to refine the terms of reference of the Committee’s ongoing inquiry into pre war intelligence with regard to Iraq. The new terms are as follows: <snip>
G. the use by the Intelligence Community of information provided by the Iraqi National Congress (INC).
This is unfortunate phrasing as the recipients of the intelligence were not members of the intelligence community. The group included William Luti, [ Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Plans and Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs ], and John Hannah.
John Hannah, if you remember, John Hannah and fellow Vice presidential aide Lewis “Scooter” Libby wrote the dossier meant to serve as the basis for Powell’s February 6, 2003 to the UN. You know, the one that Powell felt needed a little further fact checking.
INC spokesman Entifadh Qunbar said that our Mr. Hannah was “principal point of contact” for the INC’s ICP:
**Exclusive: Cheney and the ‘Raw’ Intelligence**
*By Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff
NewsweekDec. 15 issue *
…a June 2002 memo written by INC lobbyist Entifadh Qunbar to a U.S. Senate committee <snip> …not only describes Cheney aide Hannah as a “principal point of contact” for the program, it even provides his direct White House telephone number. The only other U.S. official named as directly receiving the INC intel is William Luti, a former military adviser to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich who, after working on Cheney’s staff early in the Bush administration, shifted to the Pentagon, where he oversaw a secretive Iraq war-planning unit called the Office of Special Plans.
(As if you hadn’t seen this before- obligatory Office of Special Plans thread link)
Curiously enough John Hannah also recently arrived at the dead center of the Plame scandal.
The thing is that Mr. Karim’s or Habib’s, (or whatever), ties to Iranian Intell services have been known since at least the mid-nineties.
So all of the INC’s ICP program was conducted and funded with this knowledge in mind. Sure makes the CIA and State seem smarter than the Pentagon don’ it?
The “false and misleading” stuff that Powell talked about recently came from an intelligence group which was run by a man known for years to be an Iranian intelligence operative. The Pentagon decided to support this group despite the experiences of other members of US intelligence community.
The Pentagon chose to support the INC’s ICP despite the missing $millions and in full knowledge that the program was run by Aras Karim (Habib).
Someone’s responsible for that decision.
From Here: Why Not Put an End to the Well-Founded Rumors Surrounding GWB Admin’s Use of Intel re Iraq?: the use by the Intelligence Community of information provided by the Iraqi National Congress
Meet the Press Transcript for May 16 2004
Updated: 1:08 p.m. ET May 16, 2004Copyright© 2004, National Broadcasting Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Russert: Thank you very much, sir. In February of 2003, you put your enormous personal reputation on the line before the United Nations and said that you had solid sources for the case against Saddam Hussein. It now appears that an agent called Curveball had misled the CIA by suggesting that Saddam had trucks and trains that were delivering biological and chemical weapons. How concerned are you that some of the information you shared with the world is now inaccurate and discredited?
Powell: I’m very concerned. When I made that presentation in February 2003, it was based on the best information that the Central Intelligence Agency made available to me. We studied it carefully; we looked at the sourcing in the case of the mobile trucks and trains. There was multiple sourcing for that. Unfortunately, that multiple sourcing over time has turned out to be not accurate. And so I’m deeply disappointed. But I’m also comfortable that at the time that I made the presentation, it reflected the collective judgment, the sound judgment of the intelligence community. But it turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and in some cases, deliberately misleading. And for that, I am disappointed and I regret it.
Then vs NOW
Then:
An administration official said the media and the intelligence committee’s emphasis on the information provided by the Chalabi-led INC distorts the scope of what went wrong with U.S. intelligence leading up to the war. The intelligence agencies have combined annual budgets of nearly $40 billion, compared with the $4 million annual budget of the ICP. The ICP used that money only to produce potential intelligence sources, not to guarantee their accuracy and reliability. That was up to their DIA handlers.
Now:
INC spokesman Entifadh Qanbar and other INC officials denied that the group knowingly provided defectors of dubious credibility. They insisted that the INC did its utmost to check their identities and reliability before turning them over to U.S. officials.
Irony to Injury:
Cheney is power hitter in White House lineup
By Barbara Slavin and Susan Page, USA TODAY
Posted NaN/NaN/NaN NaN:NaN PM
A White House official says that a key member of Congress or a leader of an interest group trying to influence administration foreign policy might choose to talk to Cheney or Rice. “But if you had the choice of talking to their staffs, there’s no question” — you would choose to talk to Cheney’s, the official says.
…the 13 members of Cheney’s foreign policy shop are more highly regarded in Washington and more often attend meetings outside the White House on hot topics.
John Hannah, Cheney’s top Middle East adviser, is frequently at events not attended by the NSC. For example, Hannah took part in a session on Palestinian reform organized here by the Council on Foreign Relations just days before Bush made reform the centerpiece of his speech June 24.
And while attention is focused on whether and how the United States will move against Iraq, Cheney is said to be equally concerned about Iran…
…Cheney’s chief of staff and national security adviser, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, …protege of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Cheney.
“Dick Cheney has hired some extremely competent people,” says Patrick Clawson, deputy director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “These people have been very good about getting around town and listening to the best and the brightest.”
Cheney’s staffers “do big papers and think big thoughts,” a senior White House official says.
© Copyright 2004 USA TODAY
If you’re familiar with WINEP this praise is expected.
Maybe Mousauoi-Berg isn’t so weird after all is it?
How much is tin foil these days? you know, like enough to cover my\your whole house?
Why now?:
Damn, if Iran is really behind convincing the Bush admin (and maybe previous admins) that Saddam had WMDs, to engineer this war… Holy shit.
You would really have to hand it to them. It’s horrible, but very impressive. ShibbOleth’s chess metaphor is apt.
If it’s true, we need to hire those guys to do our dirty tricks. Damn.
Maybe because the King of Jordan is actually a reasonable, moderate man who does not want to see another theocracy in the region, and has as much or more interest in a peaceful, stable Iraq as does the U.S.?
There are a couple of angles to this whole thing. The first is that it’s not going to help the Bush Administration if it turns out that they were ‘played’ by Iranian intelligence.
But perhaps more importantly, this could turn out to be a net positive in the region - it puts Jordan on the U.S. side against the Iranians, it breaks the hold Chalabi apparently had on some administration officials, and it rocks Iran back on its heels a bit, which may reduce the meddling they are trying to do in the Shiite region.
The Iraqi people never trusted Chalabi. For him to be ousted like this, with the help of another Arab nation working with the United States, may be a good thing.
And of course, if Chalabi was blackmailing officials into toeing his line, removing that poisonous influence should also help things.
But ulltimately, whether this helps or hurts Iraq depends on the details of what comes out of the investigation of all this.
And an interesting question will be, “How does the administration respond to Iran over this?”
So, this is at BEST gross negligence on the part of civilian Pentagon officials in ignoring the findings, data, and advice from the CIA and other intelligence branches? The question that remains - was this incompetence, or design?
I’m betting on incompetence. Ever since the Church Commission it’s been impossible for the intel folks to do a good job. But we’ll see. For those of you who feel more comfortable villifying someone, there’s more than enough here to get started.
Every time I think we’ve got a grasp on the size of this clusterfuck, it grows some more. Every time I think I can’t be shocked anymore, I get shocked.
What aspect of policy, or execution of policy, of Bush’s is still defensible here?
It isn’t as if Mr. Aras Karim Habib’s ties to Iranian intelligence services were just the subject of a classified document stuck in a file somehwere. There was evidence available in the public domain. No need to involve the Church Commision.
With the raid on Chalabi apparently triggered by the president himself, I wonder if we’re seeing the begining of a split between the commander in chief and Cheney? Will the nation still be owing Rumsfeld a “debt of gratituide” come June 30th?
Grand Jury questions White House aides over outing of undercover CIA agent
Valerie Plame
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
The Independent, 11 February 2004
The investigators have also questioned Mr Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis
“Scooter” Libby, and during their interviews with other officials the FBI
has repeatedly referred to “copious” notes compiled by him. It is believed
that the FBI officers have also interviewed John Hannah, another aide to Mr
Cheney, and may be offering an incentive to him to reveal what he knows
about other officials. Some reports have suggested that Mr Libby could be
charged.
I wonder if Hannah knows who supplied the INC with the info that was given to Iran?
The FBI’s interested and investigating. Will Bush instruct him to cooperate fully?
I thought the raid was triggered by Iraqi elements more than US interests?
Don’t forget about the INC experts assurances of petal strewn streets. Might’ve played into the projections presented for force requirements and length of commitment.
I laughed, I cried.
I told you we should’ve gone with the ‘quaint’ Jamaican food place. 
Here’s some more background on this, from an independent reporter in Iraq:
Apparently, it was executed under Iraqi warrants from an Iraqi judge.
It was executed by Iraqi police, under Samir Shakir Mahmud al-Sumaydi’i, [Iraq’s new interior minister](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2004/04/mil-040409-rferl01.htm
http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:Iro0froszTIJ:www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2004/04/mil-040409-rferl01.htm+“al-Sumaydi”&hl=en). AFAICT, despite Chalabi protests, Sumeidi’s not a Baathist. He’s been described as “a leading cleric.” Don’t know how accurate that is. And Sunni, writer from Haditha involved in opposition to Saddam Hussein
There’re numerous examples like this one where Sumaydi has publicly supported Coalition actions.
But notably, US military backed up the raid. Ostensibly, there were concerns about Chalabi’s militia so the US military were called in. Reportedly, US military didn’t enter Chalabi’s place. However, plain-clothed Americans are reported to’ve entered. Chalabi says that they identified themseves as CIA and FBI agents. The FBI denied involvement and the CIA said that it didn’t have any agents present. Given the number of private military contractors and subcontractors in the area, there’s plenty of deniability to go around, though.
Also, early reports indicated that Bremer was unaware of the raids until sometime after they took place. Some faction within the US forces appears to have pulled a fast one.
Fox says
A U.S. official told Fox News that while the FBI and the United States Marshals Service were involved in Thursday’s action, the CIA was not.
Bets on where Mr Aras Karim Habib surfaces?
Kurdish controlled Iraq?
Iran?
US custody?
Bullet in the back of the head?
BTW, you put a lot of work into this thread SimonX. Its appreciated.
-XT
For that matter, note the absence of .gov pages that refer to “John Hannah”