Harry Reid Didn't Read Intel Prewar Report

Harry Reid along with many prominent Democrat Senators did not read the reports on Saddam's WMDs before the vote on the war.

In an April 7, 2004, article by Dana Priest, the Washington Post reported that few members of Congress read the full 92-page October 2002 NIE. "“No more than six senators and a handful of House members read beyond the five-page National Intelligence Estimate executive summary, according to several congressional aides responsible for safeguarding the classified material," the Post said.

On the November 13 edition of “Fox News Sunday,” Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D.-W.Va.), the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told host Chris Wallace, “"There were only six people in the Senate who did [read the NIE], and I was one of them. Rockefeller said he was “sure” that Intelligence Chairman Pat Roberts (R.-Kan.) had also read it."

Roberts confirmed to me that he had in fact read the report. But it turns out that Reid did not.

Reid said: “"We'’re talking about six senators. The answer is, if you ask me, I didn’t read it. But I don'’t know who did. But there'’s a hundred senators, not six. And some members of the Intelligence Committee may have read it. I don'’t know. But the fact of the matter is —you can'’t escape this, the administration manipulated the evidence and the people who opposed them, like Amb. [Joseph] Wilson were taken to the woodshed."

Key Democrats who have joined Reid in his campaign to charge the administration with misleading the country about the Iraq intelligence, also failed to read the prewar NIE on Iraq. When asked if he had read it, former presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.) said: "“I got briefings. I got a personal briefing at the Pentagon."

Asked if she had read it, likely 2008 presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.), said: "I'’m not going to say anything about that. Just let the intelligence committee do their work, okay?"

by Amanda B. Carpenter in Human Events

These folk can hardly complain about being lied to if they never read the information in the first place. Maybe someone should send the senators a copy of hooked on phonics before their next important vote. Maybe if it was drawn out in cartoon form it might be interesting enough to catch their attention.

To see Reids plan for the war, Go to ASHQ