Condoleezza Rice says she was stunned CIA mission was leaked

[webfact]

Condoleezza Rice says she was stunned CIA mission was leaked
By MATTHEW BARAKAT

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Former national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told jurors Thursday she was stunned to learn that a classified mission to thwart Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions — now at the heart of a criminal leak trial — had been disclosed to a reporter.

Rice testified for the prosecution in U.S. District Court at the trial of ex-CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, 47, of O'Fallon, Missouri, who is charged with illegally disclosing details of the program to New York Times reporter James Risen. Sterling denies leaking any information to Risen.

While Rice's testimony helped establish the importance of the classified program in question, her testimony did not implicate Sterling in any way as the leaker. Prosecutors opted not to force Risen to testify about his sources after the reporter made clear he wouldn't divulge sources even under threat of a jail sentence for contempt of court. So they plan to introduce a package of circumstantial evidence to prove Sterling was the source, including evidence of phone calls and emails between the two.

Prosecutors say Sterling leaked the information out of anger because he felt mistreated within the CIA. Defense lawyers say the leak could have come from anywhere and that Sterling has faced unfair suspicion because he sued the CIA for racial discrimination.

In her testimony, Rice said the program was one of the most closely held operations during her tenure as national security adviser in the first term of President George W. Bush's administration.

The plan called for using a Russian CIA asset nicknamed "Merlin" to funnel deliberately flawed nuclear blueprints to Iran.

She said the classified operation "was one of the only levers we had to try to disrupt Iran's nuclear program."

The program was of such importance, she said, that she did something she never had done before: summon a New York Times editor to the White House and ask her not to publish the story.

In the April 2003 meeting, which included then-CIA director George Tenet, Times editor Jill Abramson and Risen, Rice said she warned the paper that lives could be at risk if the story was published.

"I certainly understand the significance of the White House asking the New York Times not to run a story. I fully respect the role of the press," Rice said. "But I needed in this case to make sure that the New York Times understood the impact of what they were about to do."

The Times agreed a few days after the meeting to kill the story. But Risen later published the story in a chapter of a 2006 book, "State of War."

Rice, whose testimony drew a full gallery to what had previously been a mostly empty courtroom, also disputed a central tenet of Risen's reporting — that the operation had been badly botched and that the Iranians had quickly discovered they'd been given faulty blueprints.

"I had been told just the opposite — that the program ... was indeed working. I had no reason to think that the Iranians knew anything about it," Rice said.

Earlier Thursday, an unidentified CIA manager — testifying from behind a tall, gray dividing wall to protect his identity — acknowledged under cross-examination that more than 90 people knew about the covert mission.

He also acknowledged that some of the details in Risen's book, including the way certain technical aspects of the plan were described, more closely mimicked the language that Merlin himself more commonly used than Sterling.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-16

[kingalfred]

Expect that sort of statement from Rice who was part of US government and Bush's cabal of liars and deceivers 2000-2008.

[CMfoodie]

She should be stunned the rest of her life. Most incompentent Secy. of State scaring the world with her "mushroom cloud" statement that Iraq had nuclear weapons and everything else she said turned out to be complete falsehoods while hundreds of thousands of lives were lost for no reason.

She deserves to be jailed.

[Ulysses G.]

Why do you folks rely so heavily on fabrications? Condi Rice did NOT say that Iraq had nuclear weapons. She said that Saddam Hussein MAY be close to producing a nuclear weapon - and he had indeed been close before. Rice was pointing out the limits of U.S. intelligence, while emphasizing the disparate estimates about how close Saddam was to a nuclear bomb, Rice was saying that the CIA would not necessarily know when Saddam acquired a nuke. Rice deserves credit for stressing the gaps and uncertainties in U.S. intelligence.

"The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud"

Condi Rice for President!.

[MisterTee]

She should be stunned the rest of her life. Most incompentent Secy. of State scaring the world with her "mushroom cloud" statement that Iraq had nuclear weapons and everything else she said turned out to be complete falsehoods while hundreds of thousands of lives were lost for no reason.

She deserves to be jailed.

The whole Bush gang deserves to be jailed.

It was the most disastrous administration in American history.

[rbmcn]

Right on, Unwanted Member. She is very smart, cool under fire, patriotic and experienced. Beats the pants off all the other potential runners. The Obominator isn't worthy to carry her handbag!!?

[kingalfred]

Why do you folks rely so heavily on fabrications? Condi Rice did NOT say that Iraq had nuclear weapons. She said that Saddam Hussein MAY be close to producing a nuclear weapon - and he had indeed been close before. Rice was pointing out the limits of U.S. intelligence, while emphasizing the disparate estimates about how close Saddam was to a nuclear bomb, Rice was saying that the CIA would not necessarily know when Saddam acquired a nuke. Rice deserves credit for stressing the gaps and uncertainties in U.S. intelligence.

"The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud"

Condi Rice for President!.

yeah hope repubs nomination. Easy for any Dem to bury her!

[Ulysses G.]

Easy for any Dem to bury her!

Wishful thinking.

[IAMHERE]

I don't remember the Clinton's saying Iraq had no WMDs, very few people or media at all questioned POTUS back then.

[John Kane]

Some fellow readers will find this interesting. I met Condi a couple of times but only to sit next to her on our respective Lifecycles in the Main State gym. She is okay, but to smart to run for President. Why would anyone want that kind of punishment? She was not yet Sec State at the time they are talking about here. For me there is no question that, if State Department's Diplomatic Security (DS) was involved I would have no surprise at what I read here about the chance this poor schmuck is being railroaded. DS has a history of deciding who is trustworthy and who they will attack. DS will fabricate whatever they need to protect their own and carry on a dishonest fight against other employees who just rub them wrong. Maybe you can still find some of the personal testimonies about that kind of behavior at this old website:

http://www.worldcrafters.com Better yet, start here: http://www.worldcrafters.com/advice.html

[Ulic]

Condi Rice & Sarah Palin for the Republican ticket. Matching IQ's they can

fight it out themselves who is at the top of the ticket. It would make for

great late night television.

[shirtless]

more lies , we need a new system as our elected officials are only serving their corporate backers , democracy is dead

[up-country_sinclair]

Condi Rice for President!.

Americans might vote for a woman for president, and they have already voted for a black person. But Condi Rice's sexual orientation is probably a bridge too far for mainstream America at this point in time.

[Ulysses G.]

I don't know. If she is a lesbian, she has not admitted it and there is nothing to prove it. Obama says he is a Christian and I doubt if many people buy it, but the American people usually take candidates at their word, unless there is conclusive proof otherwise.

[up-country_sinclair]

I don't know. If she is a lesbian, she has not admitted it and there is nothing to prove it. Obama says he is a Christian and I doubt if many people buy it, but the American people usually take candidates at their word, unless there is conclusive proof otherwise.

You've perfectly illustrated my point.

The far-left hyper partisans would be digging into her past trying to find any hint of anything outside the mainstream. Even if there were no proof, it wouldn't matter. The allegation would be the story, and many people are going to believe whatever they want, facts be damned. Just like the far-right hyper partisans with President Obama's faith.

One thing I never understood though, is how they attacked candidate Obama for listening to Reverend Wright's sermon's for 20+ years yet not being Christian.

As I said, for the hyper partisans, facts be damned.

[kingalfred]

I don't know. If she is a lesbian, she has not admitted it and there is nothing to prove it. Obama says he is a Christian and I doubt if many people buy it, but the American people usually take candidates at their word, unless there is conclusive proof otherwise.

You've perfectly illustrated my point.

The far-left hyper partisans would be digging into her past trying to find any hint of anything outside the mainstream. Even if there were no proof, it wouldn't matter. The allegation would be the story, and many people are going to believe whatever they want, facts be damned. Just like the far-right hyper partisans with President Obama's faith.

One thing I never understood though, is how they attacked candidate Obama for listening to Reverend Wright's sermon's for 20+ years yet not being Christian.

As I said, for the hyper partisans, facts be damned.

proof? just like the loons who wanted "proof" of the Pres birth certificate.Hypocritical wing nuts!

[wabothai]

No matter who she is and where she comes from, she worked for the Bushes.

[chuckd]

No matter who she is and where she comes from, she worked for the Bushes.

Bush was the President for eight years. Everybody worked for him.

[willyumiii]

I don't know. If she is a lesbian, she has not admitted it and there is nothing to prove it. Obama says he is a Christian and I doubt if many people buy it, but the American people usually take candidates at their word, unless there is conclusive proof otherwise.

I cant think of any presidents or for that mater, American politicians who do not claim to be Christian.

It is a required lie to obtain office.

I must say, very few of them act like real Christians.

But then again, most Americans who claim to be Christians, do not act like Christians either.

P.S. I am not Christian, but at least I do not lie and claim to be!

[ubonjoe]

A off topic post with a nonsensical video with profanities has been removed.

Edit: Along with other off-topic posts and replies including one in which the post was inside another member's post.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Scott

[Publicus]

Why do you folks rely so heavily on fabrications? Condi Rice did NOT say that Iraq had nuclear weapons. She said that Saddam Hussein MAY be close to producing a nuclear weapon - and he had indeed been close before. Rice was pointing out the limits of U.S. intelligence, while emphasizing the disparate estimates about how close Saddam was to a nuclear bomb, Rice was saying that the CIA would not necessarily know when Saddam acquired a nuke. Rice deserves credit for stressing the gaps and uncertainties in U.S. intelligence.

"The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud"

Condi Rice for President!.

At the center of the Let's Make War Cabinet......

Taking the words right out of her mouth, the mouth of Condoleezza Rice.......

http://media.crooksa....webm_high.webm

http://media.crooksandliars.com/2014/05/29288.webm_high.webm

Edited January 16, 2015 by Publicus

[NowImEasy]

Right on, Unwanted Member. She is very smart, cool under fire, patriotic and experienced. Beats the pants off all the other potential runners. The Obominator isn't worthy to carry her handbag!!?

Condi Rice and Hillary Clinton. Anyone care to say that Hill was a better SOS?

And one factoid about Ms. Rice. She was on the NCAA panel that put Ohio State into the playoff. Now that's what I call brilliance.

[Jay Sata]

Why do you folks rely so heavily on fabrications? Condi Rice did NOT say that Iraq had nuclear weapons. She said that Saddam Hussein MAY be close to producing a nuclear weapon - and he had indeed been close before. Rice was pointing out the limits of U.S. intelligence, while emphasizing the disparate estimates about how close Saddam was to a nuclear bomb, Rice was saying that the CIA would not necessarily know when Saddam acquired a nuke. Rice deserves credit for stressing the gaps and uncertainties in U.S. intelligence.

"The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud"

Condi Rice for President!.

p

And look at the monsters her failed policies have unleashed on the world.

Saddam had the lid on the pressure cooker. The invasion served no purpose and cost the lives of many US soldiers.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Jay Sata

[Ulysses G.]

And look at the monsters her failed policies have unleashed on the world.

"Her" policies are not responsible for radical Islam which was on the rise long before she was even on the scene. Putting the blame on her is absurd.

[Publicus]

Why do you folks rely so heavily on fabrications? Condi Rice did NOT say that Iraq had nuclear weapons. She said that Saddam Hussein MAY be close to producing a nuclear weapon - and he had indeed been close before. Rice was pointing out the limits of U.S. intelligence, while emphasizing the disparate estimates about how close Saddam was to a nuclear bomb, Rice was saying that the CIA would not necessarily know when Saddam acquired a nuke. Rice deserves credit for stressing the gaps and uncertainties in U.S. intelligence.

"The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud"

Condi Rice for President!.

Condoleezza Rice worked hand in glove with Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld to demolish the standing of the US among our European Allies in Nato and the countries and societies of the Middle East and across the globe.

US relations with Iran and everyone else to include our closest allies went sour and then from bad to worse while Condoleezza Rice was national security adviser to G.W. Bush for four years in the White House then SecState for four more years after that.

By the time Condoleezza Rice left Washington $5 Trillion war dollars later and tens of thousands of lives later she and the Bush boyz had thrown the country from the frying pan into the fire, as there were two wars going on in Asia while, the economy was in a free fall and everyone except the hard core right were relieved to see her go.

O’DONNELL: Now, about the mushroom cloud that you were completely wrong about, would you say that was possibly the single worst misstatement by a national security adviser publicly?

RICE: I said that we could not afford to have it be a mushroom cloud that told us -

O’DONNELL: Where did you think that mushroom cloud would be?

RICE: The question was had Saddam Hussein actually reconstituted his nuclear weapons or was he trying to?

O’DONNELL: But all that was wrong. He couldn’t have reconstituted anything in a year. We know -- why recite things that we know were wrong and have been proven wrong?

RICE: Because what you know today can affect what you do tomorrow. But what you know today cannot affect what you did yesterday. So at the time, we didn’t know that he had not reconstituted.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/10/974809/--Mushroom-Cloud-Condi-Rice-Has-Another-Bad-Day-in-Class#

In addition to sounding like Donald Rumsfeld, Rice makes an outright lie....which indeed does sound the same as Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bush, Powell, the whole gang of 'em.

US intelligence knew confidently since 1995 Saddam Hussein had dismantled his nuclear weapons and programs and that in 1995 Saddam started to dismantle his biological warfare programs.

During her six years out of Washington Coldoleezza Rice has been obscure and for good reason...

Edited January 17, 2015 by Publicus

[Scott]

Numerous off-topic posts and replies have been removed.

[sgtsabai]

Keep GitMo open for those that really belong there, cheney/bush et al and that et al certainly includes Ms. Rice. The only WMD's Sadam had were the one we gave him and he used them up on the Kurds. She lies so much she couldn't have any credibility on the witness stand. On the other hand, another whistle blower persecution brought on by the Obama cabal. He not only didn't stop cheney/bush's destruction of the Constitution he intensified it. This trial should never, ever have taken place.

[Publicus]

I wouldn't send any of 'em to the Hague, I'd deal with them under US law mindful of international law, conventions, covenants the US has adopted and joined.

Rice was at the center of Iraq war policy making, pursuit, implementation. She consciously and willfully imposed aggressive war against a country that, dubious as it was under its dictator Saddam Hussein, was not at war and which had nothing direct or material to do with 9/11. That too was misinformation promoted by Rice and her cabal in Washington led by G.W.Bush.

WMD = Words of Mass Deception.

At to the instant legal case before a court, Condoleezza Rice is a highly credentialed person who to federal prosecutors enhances their case of espionage,so the court accepts her as a credible witness. The public however does not see Condoleezza Rice as credible for anything. Condoleezza Rice is an incredible war criminal as are the rest of 'em.

Her odds of becoming president are 25-1 against, which I suppose are better than Sarah Palin's 50-1 against.

Former SecState Hillary Clinton has 6/5, Bush 5-1.

[maidee]

lets hope the US is never allowed to build one of them falty nuclear reactors in thailand