When congress voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq, were they privy to the same intelligence as Bush?

Question

By intelligence I mean information.

Answer 1

Bush had a briefing once a week by head of the CIA, and congress got a report a few pages long which most probably did not bother to read. The CIA and the Military were letting it be known through back channels that they thought the wars was a bad idea, and congress must have known this also. The vote for most was the result of political calculation by members base on their districts , party loyalty and even some who felt that it hurt America to vote against a war that we were going to fight regardless of the vote that day by congress. What they misjudged was not the threat that Iraq posed but what a disaster the war would be. I think most did not have enough information to know it would not be easy so they feel deceived.

Answer 2

The intelligence Congress had become wide--yet no longer finished. some distance more suitable important, the intelligence briefings that individuals of Congress had were prepared by technique of the Bush administration--Congress had no get top of entry to promptly and no independant briefings/concepts So the answer isn't any. The declare that Congress "had a similar intelligence the White living house had" is an outright lie. i don't have a particular reference--this turned right into a remember of comon expertise.

Answer 3

They certainly had access to it and they cannot now say that they did not get it. Just because they chose not to educate themselves doesn't relieve them of the liability for voting for the war. There was no question that the Bushies were pushing for war with Iraq as far back as 1992. In 1998, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and others involved in PNAC sent an open letter to President Clinton calling for war with Iraq. Why were we supprised in 2001 when they got into power and then went to war? Shouldn't the Dems have questioned their "intelligence" at the time.

Answer 4

Yes they were. Those who claim that Bush and Cheney cherry-picked this information are lying fools. Any member of congress has adequate security clearance to get this information from the FBI or CIA themselves. They don't have to rely on the administration's evidence. Many of them also work on bodies within the house that deal with this type of information. Hillary Clinton's husband was the former president, a majority of Bush's evidence was gained during Bill's presidency. How one Earth could she claim she was lied to, unless she means her husband lied to her? And she voted for the war too, with all the information she knew.

Answer 5

One can only assume that they were. Since this information was not releasable to the public, we'll never know, well not until that information is declassified, or as much of it as they can declassify, since sources and methods are always classified. If they were given false or misleading intelligence reports, well shame on them for not asking more questions.

Answer 6

Yes. So was the U.N. which voted unanimously on a resolution to use force. So was every other intelligence agency in the world. So was the Clinton administration.
Everyone had all the same information. Anybody that says "Bush lied" about the intelligence is mentally challenged.

Answer 7

Congress was given "massaged" intelligence. bush showed them what cheney and he PICKED out of the intelligence to justify invading Iraq...


...since it had already been PRE-determined that America was going to invade Iraq BEFORE 9/11 ever even happened.

Cheney had maps of Iraq and its oil fields spread out on the conference tables during the SECRET ENERGY TASK FORCE meetings.

IN MARCH of 2001.

9/11 was an EXCUSE.

Answer 8

No, Bush and his cronies handpicked intel that supported their case and passed it on Congress. This has been stated by Powell and others who have left the administration.

Answer 9

Using the words "Congress" and "Bush" in conjunction with the world "intelligence" is a bit of a stretch.

Answer 10

They were, they just didn't know it was being tailored to produce a picture that Iraq was a bigger threat than it really was by partisan, high ranking CIA operatives.