When asked if Bush and Rice read the 2002 NIE on Iraq, White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett said "They did not read footnotes in a 90-page document." Bartlett later said on the issue "The president of the United States is not a fact-checker." But it turns out Condoleeza Rice did
indeed read the NIE, and thus should have known it doubted the uranium claim.
From the
National Journal
On July 18, the Bush administration declassified a relatively small portion of the NIE and held a press briefing to discuss it, in a further effort to show that the president had used the Niger information only because the intelligence community had vouched for it. Reporters noted that an "alternate view" box in the NIE stated that the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (known as INR) believed that claims of Iraqi purchases of uranium from Africa were "highly dubious" and that State and DOE also believed that the aluminum tubes were "most likely for the production of artillery shells."
But White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett suggested that both the president and Rice had been unaware of this information: "They did not read footnotes in a 90-page document." Later, addressing the same issue, Bartlett said, "The president of the United States is not a fact-checker."
First of all, the doubts about the uranium claim mentioned in the NIE were not footnotes.
From Daily Howler
Rice: I did read everything that the CIA produced for the president on weapons of mass destruction. I read the National Intelligence Estimate cover to cover a couple of times. I read the reports; I was briefed on the reports. This is--after 20 years, as somebody who has read a lot of intelligence reports--this is one of the strongest cases about weapons of mass destruction that I had ever read.
Apparently Rice read the NIE, and thus would know it said
We cannot confirm whether Iraq successfully succeeded in acquiring uranium ore and/or yellowcake from these sources. Reports suggest Iraq is shifting from domestic mining and milling of uranium to foreign acquisition. Iraq possesses significant phosphate deposits, from which uranium had been chemically extracted before Operation Desert Storm. Intelligence information on whether nuclear-related phosphate mining and/or processing has been reestablished is inconclusive, however.
Conclusions
So now it's proven that Dan Bartlett was wrong on whether or not Rice read the NIE. This opens up a large possibility that he was wrong on whether or not Bush read the NIE.
Are there any statements Bush has made indicating he read the NIE? If not, write to your Rep and Senators and demand an investigation into whether or not Bush saw countervailing evidence on the uranium claim before we invaded Iraq.
(Here's another diary I did investigating the claim http://www.dailykos.com/...)