Drake
Congress is a consumer of intel, not the producer. The executive branch is the producer of intel. Congress gets summaries from the executive, summaries that dont include exculpitory evidence.
I saw McCain talking about this "commission" and how he asked every analyst if they were pressured and they said no, then McCain went on Hardball and Chris told him how one of the bigwigs at the CIA said he had never seen a WH press the CIA as much as the Bushies.
The CIA was skeptical about the Niger claim. So what did Bush do? He cited British intel and ignored the CIA.
No, it's not. Members of Congress had access to the full spectrum of the intelligence gathered, just like the President.
The only difference is that members of Congress got the intelligence in the form of the National Intelligence Estimate, instead of the President's Daily Brief. The Robb-Silberman Commission (the one McCain served on) said that there was no significant difference between the information contained in the NIE given to Congress and the PDB given to the President.
The CIA was skeptical about the Niger claim. So what did Bush do? He cited British intel and ignored the CIA.
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