Closed Door Hearings On Iraq Intelligence Are Unacceptable
The following is a press release from July 16, 2003, by Kucinich's office in Congress.
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Kucinich Calls Closed Door Hearings Unacceptable
American Public Deserves No Less Than Full Public Hearings
Today's closed-door testimony by CIA Director George Tenet is unacceptable and will do nothing but continue to this Administration's well-orchestrated campaign to stonewall real and public hearings on their false and misleading statements in the lead-up to war in Iraq, stated Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH).
Kucinich, the leader of the opposition to the war against Iraq in the House issued the following statement:
"The American public, the Congress of the United States and especially the families and loved ones of the over 200 brave service men and women who have died in Iraq deserve nothing less than full and public hearings on the false and misleading statements this Administration used to send our nation into war.
"Closed door testimony today by the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency is simply unacceptable. Holding closed door hearings, such as today's, will do nothing but allow this Administration to continue to shift blame from those truly responsible and stonewall a real Congressional inquiry.
"It is clear, in the lead-up to war against Iraq, the Administration from the top on down orchestrated a campaign of false and misleading statements to persuade the Congress of the United States and American pubic to support a war against Iraq.
"We now know that multiple claims made by the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense, and other Administration officials about Iraq's nuclear weapons programs were false.
"We also know that the Office of the Vice President knew almost a year before the President's State of the Union Address that reports that Iraq was trying to purchase uranium from Niger were false. We also know that the Vice President, and his top staff, made multiple unprecedented trips to the CIA before the war, in order to pressure the CIA analyst to disseminate unreliable information.
"There is no more grave decision a nation must make than to send our troops into war. To not fully and publicly investigate whether this grave decision was made under false and misleading pretenses would be a great disservice to the American public and devastating blow to the credibility of this Administration and our nation."
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