that what Congress saw wasn't everything that Bush saw, then NO
Wouldn't all of those documents have to be 'unclassified' in order to prove what you are asking? If they were already 'unclassified' in order to show them to Congress, are you suggesting that there are 'more' documents that refuted what Congress saw, and if so, where are they? Don't you think that 'somebody' somewhere knows about those 'more' documents and would have spoken up (blown the whistle) already?
What you are looking for is the same thing we were looking for in Iraq....weapons of mass destruction....only you are speculating whereas you are saying Bush was on a witch hunt for nothing because he knowingly lied. If you think that BUSH was capable of lying, why is it so hard to comprehend that SADDAM could have lied about what he had or didn't have?
You want proof of something that doesn't or may not exist....which is exactly what we wanted when we went to Iraq. Only if Saddam had what we believed he had, his threat was far more destructive to the world (and based on his personal history for human destruction it was more easily believable)
Now...with all of that said....what do you think were the 'real' reasons Bush went to Iraq, if you believe he 'lied' or concealed or doctored information given to Congress to get their okay?
TONI
From the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service:
By virtue of his constitutional role as commander-and-in-chief and head of the executive branch, the President has access to all national intelligence collected, analyzed and produced by the Intelligence Community. The President's position also affords him the authority - which, at certain times, has been aggressively asserted (1) - to restrict the flow of intelligence information to Congress and its two intelligence committees, which are charged with providing legislative oversight of the Intelligence Community. (2) As a result, the President, and a small number of presidentially-designated Cabinet-level officials, including the Vice President (3) - in contrast to Members of Congress (4) - have access to a far greater overall volume of intelligence and to more sensitive intelligence information, including information regarding intelligence sources and methods. They, unlike Members of Congress, also have the authority to more extensively task the Intelligence Community, and its extensive cadre of analysts, for follow-up information. As a result, the President and his most senior advisors arguably are better positioned to assess the quality of the Community's intelligence more accurately than is Congress. (5)
In addition to their greater access to intelligence, the President and his senior advisors also are better equipped than is Congress to assess intelligence information by virtue of the primacy of their roles in formulating U.S. foreign policy. Their foreign policy responsibilities often require active, sustained, and often personal interaction, with senior officials of many of the same countries targeted for intelligence collection by the Intelligence Community. Thus the President and his senior advisors are uniquely positioned to glean additional information and impressions - information that, like certain sensitive intelligence information, is generally unavailable to Congress - that can provide them with an important additional perspective with which to judge the quality of intelligence.
Full text here.
So with that in mind, was Bush lying when he said the following?
''That's why more than a hundred Democrats in the House and the Senate -- who had access to the same intelligence -- voted to support removing Saddam Hussein from power.''
- President Bush, November 11, 2005.
''So I went to the United States Congress. The Congress looked at the same intelligence I looked at, remembered the same history I remembered, and concluded Saddam Hussein was a threat, and voted to authorize the use of force.''
- President Bush, October 1, 2004.
''Now, the United States Congress looked at the same intelligence I looked at, the exact same intelligence, and came to the same conclusion. Members of both political parties looked at the intelligence. My opponent looked at the very same intelligence and came to the same conclusion.''
- President Bush, August 5, 2004.