Lawmakers Blast Bush on Syria Intel

Bourne · 04-24-2008, 04:38 PM

This thread regards another failing by Bush but it also outlines N. Korea's attempt to assist in the destabilization of the Middle East by aiding Syria in the construction of a nuclear facility.

Israel rightfully took out that facility.

Quote:

Leading lawmakers from the House Intelligence Committee accused the Bush administration of leaving them out of the loop by refusing to provide adequate intelligence briefings on North Korean help in constructing a nuclear facility in Syria until today.

(ABC News Photo Illustration)

Both sides of the aisle warned the administration it would now face a steeper battle to gain congressional approval for any deal that may be reached to eliminate North Korea's nuclear program through the so-called six-party talks.
Committee chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, and ranking member Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., are furious with the Bush administration for failing to brief Congress until eight months after Israeli jets bombed a suspected Syrian nuclear site Sept. 6, 2007.
"The challenge we're having particularly with [the] administration today is that there is a veil of secrecy that gets in the way of our committee feeling comfortable that we're getting the kind of information that we're supposed to have to carry out our oversight responsibilities," Reyes told reporters after leaving the intelligence briefing.

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"They could not give us a good reason why they waited eight months. This could have and should have happened eight months ago," Hoekstra said.
Both he and Reyes were briefed on the matter previously, but today is the first time the entire committee has been briefed.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino responded to Hoekstra's remarks, saying "Back in the fall, we briefed 22 members of Congress, consistent with our obligations. He was one of them. There are tensions that exist between the executive branches and the legislative branches on a range of issues in regards to who should know what when."
Senior intelligence officials are on Capitol Hill today to brief relevant congressional committees on North Korean technical and logistical help to develop a nuclear program in Syria. Israeli jets bombed the site in September during a covert raid.

ABC News: Lawmakers Blast Bush on Syria Intel