After a successful Middle East trip with Nancy Pelosi Henry Waxman again seeks testimony from Condoleeza Rice on fabricated Niger Uranium Claim
BBSNews 2007-04-09 -- House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman is renewing calls for testimony later this month from Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice about fabricated claims by President Bush in his State of the Union address in 2003 that Iraq sought uranium from Niger. Waxman pointed out that he has sent sixteen other letters since 2003 on the subject, with only five of those answered, apparently only as a result of severe partisanship because those five were co-signed by Republicans. Letters from Democrats only, at that time the minority, were ignored. Such blatant and ongoing partisanship on the part of Republicans cannot be healthy for US national security. Chairman Waxman sent another request on March 12, 2007, this time a scathing letter to Rice asking:
"Since 2003, I have been asking why President Bush and other top Administration officials used fabricated intelligence about Iraq's efforts to obtain uranium from Niger to justify launching the Iraq war. I first wrote to the President about this matter on March 17, 2003, two days before the start of the Iraq war. In my letter, I asked why the President had included the bogus Niger claim in his January 28, 2003, State of the Union address, the most heavily vetted speech a president makes ... To this day, however, I have not received an adequate explanation to my question. The President did not respond to my letter, nor did you respond to multiple letters I sent you about this matter."
In yet another letter today reminding Secretary Rice that the oversight committee is seeking her testimony on April 18th, 2007 Waxman wrote:
"One of the issues the Committee is examining why the President asserted in his State of the Union address in 2003 that Iraq sought uranium from Niger. In my March 12 letter, I requested information about what you knew about this assertion and how it ended up in the State of the Union address. I asked you to answer specific questions raised in a June 10, 2003, letter and a July 29, 2003, 1etter, both of which I enclosed. These questions included: (1) whether you had any knowledge that would explain why President Bush cited forged evidence about Iraq's efforts to procure uranium from Niger in the State of the Union address; (2) whether you knew before the State of the Union address of the doubts raised by the CIA and the State Department about the veracity of the Niger claim; (3) whether there was a factual basis for your reference in a January 23, 2003, op-ed to "Iraq's efforts to get uranium from abroad"; and (4) whether you took appropriate steps to investigate how the Niger claim ended up in the State of the Union address after it was revealed to be fraudulent."
As a result of the stonewalling by Secretary Rice, Chairman Waxman is unwilling to withdraw the request for her testimony.
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