Kucinich, et al to Cheney

[Dan Scanlan <dscanlan@xxxxxxx>]

Ten Questions For Cheney

A letter from Representatives Dennis J. Kucinich, Carolyn B.
Maloney,and Bernie Sanders.

TomPaine.com

Editor's note: The following letter was sent to Vice President Dick
Cheney on July 21, 2003. Reps. Kucinich, Maloney and Sanders are
members of the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats
and International Relations.

The Honorable Dick Cheney Vice President Office of the Vice President
of the United States Eisenhower Executive Office Building Washington,
DC 20501

Dear Mr. Vice President:

While it has been widely reported that the President made a false
assertion in his State of the Union address concerning
unsubstantiated intelligence that Iraq purchased uranium from Niger,
your own role in the dissemination of that disinformation has not
been explained by you or the White House. Yet, you reportedly paid
direct personal visits to CIA's Iraq analysts; your request for
investigation of the Niger uranium claim resulted in an investigation
by a former U.S. ambassador, and you made several high-profile public
assertions about Iraq's alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons. We hope
that you will take the opportunity to provide responses to the
following ten questions.

I. Concerning "unusual" personal visits by the Vice President to CIA analysts.

According to The Washington Post, June 5, 2003, you made "multiple"
"unusual" visits to CIA to meet directly with Iraq analysts. The Post
reported: "Vice President Cheney and his most senior aide made
multiple trips to the CIA over the past year to question analysts
studying Iraq's weapons programs."

These visits were unprecedented. Normally, Vice Presidents, yourself
included, receive regular briefings from CIA in your office and have
a CIA officer on permanent detail. In other words, there is no reason
for the Vice President to make personal visits to CIA analysts.

According to the Post, your unprecedented visits created "an
environment in which some analysts felt they were being pressured to
make their assessments fit with the Bush administration's policy
objectives."

Questions:

1) How many visits did you and your chief of staff make to CIA to
meet directly with CIA analysts working on Iraq? 2) What was the
purpose of each of these visits? 3) Did you or a member of your staff
at any time direct or encourage CIA analysts to disseminate
unreliable intelligence? 4) Did you or a member of your staff at any
time request or demand rewriting of intelligence assessments
concerning the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?

II. Concerning a request by the Vice President to investigate
intelligence of Niger uranium sale, revealing forgery one year ago.

This alleged sale of uranium to Iraq by Niger was critical to the
administration's case that Iraq was reconstituting a nuclear weapons
program. During the period of time you reportedly paid visits to CIA,
you also requested that CIA investigate intelligence that purported
to show Iraqi pursuit of uranium from Niger, and your office received
a briefing on the investigation.

According to The New York Times of May 6, 2003, "more than a year ago
the vice president's office asked for an investigation of the uranium
deal, so a former U.S. Ambassador to Africa was dispatched to Niger."

The ambassador "reported to the CIA and State Department that the
information was unequivocally wrong and that the documents had been
forged," according to the Times. Indeed, that former U.S. Ambassador,
Joseph Wilson, wrote in The New York Times, July 6, 2003, "The vice
president's office asked a serious question. We were asked to help
formulate the answer. We did so, and we have every confidence that
the answer we provided was circulated to the appropriate officials
within our government."

Moreover, your chief of staff, Mr. Libby, told Time magazine this
week that you did in fact express interest in the report to the CIA
briefer. Our understanding is that Standard Operating Procedure is
that if a principal asks about a report, he is given a specific
answer.

Questions:

5) Who in the office of Vice President was informed of the contents
of Ambassador Wilson's report?

6) What efforts were made by your office to disseminate the findings
of Ambassador Wilson's investigation to the President, National
Security Adviser, and Secretary of Defense?

7) Did your office regard Ambassador Wilson's conclusions as accurate
or inaccurate?

III. Assertions by the Vice President and other high ranking members
of the Administration claiming Iraqi nuclear weapons program.

The President's erroneous reference to the faked Niger uranium sale
in his State of the Union address was only one example of a pattern
of similar assertions by high ranking members of the administration,
including yourself. The assertion was made repeatedly in the
administration's campaign to win congressional approval of military
action against Iraq.

For instance, you said to the 103d National Convention of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars on August 26, 2002, "they [the Iraqi regime]
continue to pursue the nuclear program they began so many years
ago... we now know that Saddam has resumed his efforts to acquire
nuclear weapons... Should all his ambitions be realized... [he could]
subject the United States or any other nation to nuclear blackmail."

In sworn testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, just
weeks before the House of Representatives voted to authorize military
action against Iraq, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld testified
on September 18, 2002: "He [Saddam]... is pursuing nuclear weapons.
If he demonstrates the capability to deliver them to our shores, the
world would be changed. Our people would be at great risk. Our
willingness to be engaged in the world, our willingness to project
power to stop aggression, our ability to forge coalitions for
multilateral action, could all be under question. And many lives
could be lost."

Questions:

8) Since your address to the VFW occurred nearly 7 months after
Ambassador Wilson reported his findings to the CIA and State
Department, what evidence did you have for the assertion that Iraq
was continuing "to pursue the nuclear program" and that Saddam had
"resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons"? 9) Since the
Secretary of Defense testified to Congress that Iraq was "pursuing
nuclear weapons" nearly 8 months after Ambassador Wilson's briefing
to CIA and the State Department, what effort did you make to
determine what evidence the Secretary of Defense had for his
assertion to Congress?

Further refutation of the authenticity of the forged Niger documents
came from IAEA Director General ElBaradei, when he reported to the UN
Security Council on March 7, 2003: "These documents, which formed the
basis for reports of recent uranium transactions between Iraq and
Niger, are in fact not authentic. We have therefore concluded that
these specific allegations are unfounded... we have found no evidence
or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons programme
in Iraq." Yet on March 16 -- nine days afterwards -- you again
repeated the unfounded assertion on national television (Meet the
Press, Sunday, March 16, 2003). You said:

"We think Mr. ElBaradei frankly is wrong," and "We believe [Saddam]
has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons."

Question:

10) What was the basis for this assertion made by you on national
television? We hope you will take the opportunity to answer these
questions about your role in the dissemination of false information
about Iraq's nuclear program to justify the war in Iraq. We look
forward to a response.

Sincerely,

Dennis J. Kucinich, Ranking Minority Member
Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and
International Relations

Carolyn B. Maloney, Member Subcommittee on National
Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations

Bernie Sanders, Member Subcommittee on National
Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations