Pres. Bush says 'Congress sees the same intel that I do'... turns out that's not true either!

Senator Diane Feinstein did a little digging into GWB's assertion that the Congress and Senate got a look-see at the same intelligence that the President and his staff saw in the build-up to the war in Iraq.

She adroitly asked a fellow named Alfred Cumming, Specialist in Intelligence and National Security.

This is what he came back with.

Turns out the President and the administration routinely does not share all of their intelligence material, sources or estimates with their colleagues in the Legislative branch.

Now, I scanned the document quickly and nowhere does it specifically mention the pre-war Iraq intelligence, but many other sources have asserted that the there were numerous points of omission and added emphasis in the material presented to Congress by the White House when compared to the original material delivered to the White House by the CIA and other intelligence gatherers.

So, this doesn't completely close the case on the Bush administration, but it certainly punches a few holes in their paper thin line of defense. And, it is absolutely plausible that the Senate (read JOHN KERRY and JOHN EDWARDS) received different intel than the White House did.

Man, there was a guy I was arguing with intensely in my grad-school class last year about the Iraq war intelligence. He kept insisting that "they all saw the same intelligence", and I knew it couldn't be true.

I win.

A.L.