REMEMBERING STEPHEN HADLEY - NSC Rice Replacement?
This post was first made in June of 2003
The links have been updated to include only those which are currently available
HADLEY THE PATSY WAS CHARGED WITH MARKETING THE WAR ON IRAQ.
The following entries dig a deeper hole for the Bush administration.
First Hadley is charged with selling the war in IRAQ based on the NATO model he pioneered
Second Hadley is briefed in October about the fake Niger documents by Tenant
Third Hadley says he "forgot" in January what Tenant told him in October
Forth Hadley writes a column remembering the Niger information before Feb 16th
This mea culpa is less believable than the Tenant mea culpa.
This is starting to stink of cover-up
That's it ____ when the sales strategy backfires blame the salesman not the policy maker.
November 3, 2002 HADLEY NAMED KEY MAN IN "MARKETING" OF WAR ON IRAQ
The goal of building fresh public support for U.S. policy to invade IRAQ falls to NSC deputy Hadley. Cheney delivered a public indictment of Hussein at the end of August, while Bush presented a bill of particulars to the opening session of the U.N. General Assembly two weeks later. Randy Scheunemann, exec. dir. Committee for the Liberation of Iraq said Capitol Hill offices have been "getting a lot of calls against and not many for the war." The Committee's methods will borrow heavily from the NATO effort, including sessions with opinion makers, contacts for journalists and mass marketing when the time is ripe. The approach is a familiar one to the Bush administration. Hadley co-founded the NATO project. Board members included Rice, Wolfowitz and U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick. Cheney and Powell advise the group
HADLEY IS LINKED TO 9-11 "IMMEDIATE ACTION" REPORT that took 5 months
More evidence that Bush team was asleep at the wheel on 9-11
April 2001: Administration "deputies," including Deputy Secretary of State Armitage, Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz and Deputy NSC Adviser Stephen Hadley, meet to discuss U.S. policy against al Qaeda, approve "immediate actions" against al Qaeda and review draft of security directive.
· May-July 2001: Deputies strategy is to enlist Pakistan's to pressure the Taliban to shut down al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
· August 14, 2001: Security directive draft goes to Rice, Cheney, Powell, and Rumsfeld.
· September 4, 2001: These principals sign off on the directive.
· September 9 or 10, 2001: Directive arrives on Rice's desk ready for Bush
· September 11, 2001: Directive is sitting on Rice's desk waiting to go to Bush.
Notice it was April when the deputies met to review a security directive for IMMEDIATE ACTION yet it took 5 MONTHS to get it to Rice's desk? UNBELIEVABLE
DID FORGETFULNESS PLAY A PART IN THIS EXTENDED TIMELINE ON 9-11??
CONTRADICTIONS IN ADMIN SOTU STORY
FACT: NSC Aides Repeatedly Warned Before SOTU - Niger Information Was False.
Rice claimed "intelligence community did not know at that time about this report." [ABC 6/8/03]
In Oct. ‘02, CIA Director Tenet personally and repeatedly warned Hadley to exclude references to Iraq-Niger connection from Oct 7 speech. They were deleted. [NYT, 7/13/03; NYT, 7/16/03]
Just before Bush's SOTU address, NSC staffer Robt G. Joseph was warned by CIA expert Alan Foley about intelligence uncertainties about attempts to buy uranium. [NYT, 7/13/03]
CIA Director Tenet said, "officials reviewing draft remarks on uranium raised several concerns" about intelligence with "NSC colleagues." [Tenet 7/11/03]
FACT: Although Tenet Took Blame For Misinformation, He Repeatedly Warned Bush NSC Officials That Evidence Was Flawed.
March 2002: CIA discovered and then advised the White House that reports connecting Iraq and Niger were probably false. [Time, 7/13/03]
FACT: Fleischer & WH Press Office Offer Contradictory Explanations on Bush's Speech.
Fleischer said SOTU referred to Niger. Later, Fleischer insisted Bush was referencing other African countries[WH Briefing, 7/14/03]
Comm chief Bartlett says Bush was not angry about error. Days later, Fleischer says that Bush "is not pleased." [WaPo, 7/10/03; WH Briefing, 7/14/03] Bartlett said "there was no debate or questions" about inserting the line into SOTU. But Rice admitted there was "discussion" on that line [WaPo, 7/10/03; Rice 7/11/03; Tenet Statement, 7/11/03]
MORE LINKS ON HADLEY
Apropos of Nothing has the dope on the 90 minute meeting with reporters.
Body & Soul reminds us of Hadley's fanatical attention to detail
the Cheeseweasle reminds us this still leaves us asking who put it in.
Shock and Awe has a detailed account of HADLEY's follys in Riyahd, Palestine, France, the UN, London, and Bosnia. HADLEY wrote the Tower commission report that attempted to exhonerate Reagan & Bush in Iran Contra. Hadley is a disaster.
Bush Aide Hadley Takes Blame for Iraq-Uranium Claim
Security Adviser Stephen Hadley accepted blame for failing to remove from the president's State of Union speech references to Iraq's attempt to buy uranium in Africa. The references to the uranium purchase, removed before Bush made an October speech, were forgotten when the January speech was written, he said. HE FORGOT? that is the excuse?
This column by Steve Hadley, Deputy National Security Adviser to President Bush, first appeared in the Chicago Tribune February 16, 2003
With its trained nuclear scientists and a weapons design, all Saddam Hussein lacks is the necessary plutonium or enriched uranium. Iraq has an active procurement program. According to British intelligence, the regime has tried to acquire natural uranium from abroad. It is also trying to import and develop specialized magnets, high-speed balancing machines and other hardware needed to build the centrifuges that can produce enriched uranium. Through front companies, Iraq has tried recently to import high-strength aluminum tubes with tolerances suitable for centrifuges -- and that far exceed the requirements for conventional weapons. FUNNY HOW HE REMEMBERED BEFORE FEBRUARY 16TH
Last weekend, administration sources disclosed that CIA Director George Tenet intervened in October to warn White House officials, including Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, not to use the Niger information because it was based on a single source. That source proved to be a forged document with glaring inconsistencies. Bush's October speech was edited to eliminate the false charge. We now know that before Bush's January speech, Robert G. Joseph, the National Security Council (NSC) individual who reports to Rice on nuclear proliferation, was fully briefed by CIA analyst Alan Foley that the Niger connection was no stronger than it had been in October. It is inconceivable that in reviewing draft after draft of the State of the Union speech, NSC staffers Hadley and Joseph failed to tell Rice that the president was about to spread a big lie to justify going to war.
