Reeder:
[Moderator Hat ON]
Reeder, calling other posters names is NOT ALLOWED in this forum. Watch it.
[Moderator Hat OFF]
My apologies.
Wow, … I thought I had layed on the sarcasm as thick as humanly possible.
:eek: 
There are two qualifiers on the word complaints.
The initial sentence, (in the NY times piece), clearly includes the phrase “he had been pressed to tailor his analysis on Iraq.” But you’re right in that it’s apparent that they weren’t specific complaints.
The Reuters certainly piece doesn’t say that Westermann had been pressed to tailor his analysis on Iraq at all. Its description, (of the reports), of Westermann’s disclosures is much more general and vague. I does, however, specifically state that Westermann didn’t specify Iraq.
One possible explanation could be that the NYT’s " several Congressional officials" and Reuters “three government sources familiar with the hearings” are different people with different agendas and reasons for leaking the goings on of closed-door hearings.
I agree with you zigaretten, “eh?” + shrug.
This doesn’t do much for me. I’d be more impressed if a number of things were different and more specific.
It does seem odd that the sentence “The analysts were asked individually whether they had been pressured while making their assessments on Iraq,” is immediately followed by “Christian Westermann, a State Department intelligence analyst, was the only one who spoke up and said he had felt pressure…” And only then does it switch from talking directly what Westermann said to what was reported to them, ( the people @ Reuters), saying “three government sources familiar with the hearings said he did not specify his work on Iraq.”
Since these were closed-door hearings I assume that Reuters had to get the whole bit second hand, (at best). I wonder it wasn’t simply reported as
“Christian Westermann, a State Department intelligence analyst, was the only one who spoke up and said he had felt pressure, but he did not specify his work on Iraq.”
or
"Three government sources familiar with the hearings said Christian Westermann, a State Department intelligence analyst, was the only one who spoke up and said he had felt pressure, but he did not specify his work on Iraq and it appeared that other issues were the source of his complaint. "
I mean why the switch mid-stride? It just sounds funny.
If it weren’t for the political slant, your posts would be perfect for MPSIMS.
I don’t think so.
A war was waged.
A war without provocation.
Billions were spent. Thousands have died. Millions are suffering.
Justification?.. pending.
We should keep this quote nearby – between Reeder and december, it’d get plenty of use.